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EXTERIOR  OF  THE  OLD  BRICK  CHURCH  IN  BEEKMAN  STREET 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL 


CONTAINING 

THE  DISCOURSES  DELIVERED  BY  DR.  SPRING  ON  THE 

CLOSING  OF  THE  OLD  CHURCH  IN  BEEKMAN 

ST.,  AND  THE  OPENING  OF  THE  NEW 

CHURCH  ON  MURRAY  HILL; 

THE  DISCOUKSE  DELIVERED 


OV   ma   INSTALLATION    AS    PASTOR    OF   THE    BRICK   CHOROH ; 

WITH 
THE  PROCEEDINaS  OF  THE 

MEMORIAL     MEETING-, 

AND 

THE  DISCOURSE  PREACHED  ON  THE  OCCASION 

OF 

MRS.  SPRING'S  DECEASE. 


NEW   YORK: 
M.    W.    DODD,    PUBLISHER, 

No.    506    Beoadway. 
1861. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1861, 

By  M.  W.  DoDD, 

In  the  Clerk's  OflBce  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


NEW  TOKK  : 

FEINTED  BY   EDWARD   O.    JENKINS, 

20  NORTH  WILLIAM   ST. 


CONTENTS. 


PAOB. 

DEPARTURE    FROM    THE  BEEKMAN  STREET  CHURCH.  1 

DEDICATION  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH 46 

FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY  DISCOURSE 81 

PROCEEDINGS  AT  THE  MEMORIAL  MEETING 129 

DISCOURSE  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  MRS.  SPRING 216 


MEMORIAL  OF  GOD'S  GOODNESS. 

A    DISCOURSE; 

DELIVERED  ON  THE  25th  OF  MAY,  1866,  AS  THE 

CLOSING  SERMON  IN  THE  OLD  BRICK 

CHURCH  IN  BEEKMAN  STREET. 


MEIOEIAL  OF  GOD'S  GOODNESS. 


"We  have  thought  of  thy  loving-kindness,  O  God,  in  the  midst  of 
thy  temple.  That  ye  may  tell  it  to  the  generation  following;  for  this 
God  is  our  God,  for  ever  and  ever;  he  will  be  our  guide  even  unto 
death." — Psalm  xlviii.  9-14. 

The  present  service  closes  the  public  worship 
of  God  in  an  edifice  where  it  has  been  enjoyed 
for  88  years.  For  whatever  purposes  this  hal- 
lowed ground  may  be  hereafter  employed,  expe- 
rience has  convinced  us  that  it  is  no  longer  a  fit 
place  for  religious  worship.  We  have  admitted 
this  conviction  reluctantly;  we  have  resisted  it 
too  long.  It  is  now  forced  upon  us  by  considera- 
tions which  we  have  no  doubt  God  approves,  and 
the  best  interests  of  his  kingdom  demand. 

With  the  future  we  have  less  to  do,  on  the 
present  occasion,  than  with  the  past.  The  Brick 
Presbyterian  Church  has,  from  its  origin,  occu- 
pied a  position  sufficiently  prominent  to  justify, 
even  in  the  eyes  of  the  men  of  the  world,  some 
historical  notices,  which  may,  perhaps,  be  viewed 
with  interest  by  others  as  well  as  ourselves. 


8  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

It  requires  no  great  labor  and  very  little  re- 
searcli  to  furnish  the  historical  outlines  of  a 
Christian  congregation,  which  dates  back  only  88 
years.  The  first  account  we  have  of  Presbyte- 
riauism  in  this  city,  is  the  combination  of  several 
Presbyterian  families  from  England,  Scotland,  Ire- 
land, France,  and  New  England,  in  the  year  1706, 
who  were  in  the  habit  of  assembling  together  on 
the  Lord's  day,  in  a  private  house,  and  conduct- 
ing their  rehgious  services  without  the  aid  of  any 
Christian  minister.  The  following  year  they  wor- 
shipped occasionally  in  the  Dutch  church  in 
Garden  street,  and,  in  the  year  1716,  formed 
themselves  into  a  regular  Presbyterian  church, 
under  the  stated  ministry  of  the  Rev.  James  An- 
derson, a  native  of  Scotland.  For  three  years 
this  infant  church  assembled  for  public  worship 
in  the  City  Hall,  then  on  the  corner  of  Nassau 
and  Wall  streets ;  and  in  1719,  they  erected  the 
first  Presbyterian  church  in  Wall  street,  out  of 
which  was  formed  the  Church  of  the  Seceders  in 
Cedar  street,  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  the 
Rev.  ^Dr.  Mason  the  elder,  and  also  the  Brick 
church  in  Beekman  street.  The  corner  stone  of 
this  edifice  was  laid  in  the  autumn  of  the  year 
1766,  and  on  the  first  of  January,  1768,  it  was 
opened  for  public  worship,  by  a  discourse  from 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Rodgers,  its  first  pastor.  The  con- 
gregations   worshipping    in  Wall    street   and    in 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  9 

Beekman  street  remained  for  a  series  of  years 
one  churchy  under  tlie  same  associated  pastorate, 
the  same  Board  of  Trustees,  and  the  same  bench 
of  Ruling  Elders.  This  identity  of  interest  was 
preserved  during  the  whole  of  the  Revolutionary 
war,  and  down  to  the  year  1809.  During  the 
war,  these  two  Presbyterian  churches  were  the 
objects  of  the  special  vengeance  and  indignity  of 
the  enemy.  The  church  in  Wall  street  was  con- 
verted into  barracks,  and  the  Brick  church  into 
a  hospital — defaced,  stripped  of  their  interior, 
and  left  in  ruins,  and  the  parsonage  house  burned 
to  the  ground.  On  the  return  of  peace,  and 
while  these  edifices  were  being  repaired,  the  con- 
gregations statedly  worshipped  in  St.  George's 
and  St.  Paul's,  through  the  unsolicited  and  gen- 
erous courtesy  of  the  vestry  of  Trinity  church. 
After  having  been  repaired  at  great  expense,  the 
Brick  church  was  reopened  in  June,  1784,  by  a 
discourse  from  Dr.  Rodgers,  from  the  words  of 
the  Psalmist,  "  I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto 
me.  Let  us  go  into  the  house  of  the  Lord."  The 
ministers  successively  associated  with  Dr.  Rodgers, 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  were  the  Rev. 
James  Wilson,  from  Scotland,  the  Rev.  John 
McKnight,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Miller.  These 
congregations,  in  their  united  capacity,  and  for 
many  years  after  the  present  pastor  of  the  Brick 
church    came   to   the   city,  established    and   sus- 


10  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

tained  a  large  parocliial  school,  in  Nassau,  be- 
tween Liberty  and  Cedar  streets,  and  relin- 
quished their  funds  for  this  object  to  the  Public 
School  directors,  on  the  expressed  condition  that 
no  child  whom  they  should  recommend  should 
be  excluded,  and  that  the  Bible  should  be  daily 
read  in  the  schools. 

Serious  inconveniences  were  found  to  attend 
the  arrangement  of  this  collegiate  charge ;  and 
by  an  amicable  stipulation,  in  the  year  1809,  the 
congregations,  till  then  united,  were  formed  into 
separate  and  distinct  churches ; — the  Rev.  Dr. 
Rodgers  retaining  his  relation  to  both,  and  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Miller  the  stated  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Wall  street — Dr.  McKnight  voluntarily  resigning 
his  connexion  with  both  churches. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  Brick  church  the 
year  before  the  ordination  and  installation  of  the 
present  pastor.  The  eldership  consisted  of  men 
well  known,  both  in  civil  and  ecclesiastical  life, 
and  venerable  for  age  and  character.  They  were 
Abraham  Vangelder,  John  Thompson,  Wilham 
Ogilvie,  Benjamin  Egbert,  Thomas  Frazer,  John 
Bingham,  John  Mills,  and  Samuel  Osgood,  to 
which  were  added,  shortly  after  the  separation  of 
the  churches,  William  Whitlock,  Richard  Cun- 
ningham, Rensselaer  Havens,  and  John  Adams. 
While  all  these  gentlemen  were  men  of  worth 
and  influence,  the  ruling  spirit  among  them,  and 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  11 

the  man  eminent  for  discernment,  practical  wis- 
dom, ardent  piety,  and  vigorous  action,  was  John 
MiUs. 

The  age  and  infirmities  of  Dr.  Rodgers  had  re- 
leased him  from  all  duty,  and  the  great  object  of 
the  church  now  was  to  secure  the  services  of  a 
stated  pastor.  There  were  divisions  among  them 
arising  from  the  separation  previously  referred 
to,  from  ancient  feuds,  personal  animosity,  and 
political  excitement.  A  call  was  presented  to 
the  Rev.  Dr.  John  McDowell,  of  Elizabethtown, 
in  New  Jersey,  which,  though  sustained  by  a 
large  majority  of  the  congregation,  he  declined 
accepting.  Subsequently  a  call  was  presented  to 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Andrew  Yates,  of  East  Hartford, 
Connecticut,  and  though  unanimous,  was  de- 
clined ;  Dr.  Yates  giving  the  preference  to  the 
Professorship  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  Union  Col- 
lege. Three  efforts  were  subsequently  made  to 
induce  the  congregation  to  call  the  Rev.  Lyman 
Beech  er,  then  of  East  Hampton,  Long  Island ; 
but  for  want  of  harmony,  this  measure  was  aban- 
doned. Subsequently,  in  May,  1810,  the  Session 
deputed  two  of  their  number  to  procure  the  ser- 
vices of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Speece,  of  Virginia,  on  trial ; 
this  effort  was  also  unsuccessful.  At  the  same 
meeting  they  also  appointed  the  same  committee 
"to  proceed  to  Philadelphia,  during  the  sessions 
of  the  General  Assembly,  and  make  application 


12  BKICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

to  any  of  the  Presbyterian  ministers  that  may  be 
convened  there,  whose  piety  and  talents  would, 
in  their  judgment,  render  him  acceptable  to  the 
congregation,  and  earnestly  solicit  such  minister 
to  make  the  church  a  visit  of  two  or  three  Sab- 
baths, with  a  view  to  a  permanent  settlement  as 
pastor ;  and  in  case  they  should  not  find  any 
minister  there  suitably  qualified,  that  they  make 
inquiry  of  the  ministers  present ;  and  if  they  re- 
ceive well-grounded  information  respecting  any 
minister  whose  piety  and  talents  would  probably 
make  him  acceptable  to  the  congregation,  that 
they  take  such  measures  for  procuring  a  visit 
from  such  minister  as  they  may  think  proper." 
There  is  no  record  on  the  minutes  of  the  Session 
of  the  action  of  this  committee,  and  no  report  of 
the  results  of  their  appointment. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Session,  on  the  28th 
of  May,  1810,  the  first  resolution  was  adopted 
which  relates  to  your  present  pastor.  He  had 
not  a  single  acquaintance  in  the  congregation, 
nor  does  he  know  by  whom,  nor  by  what  means 
his  name  was  presented  to  the  Session.  He  had 
passed  through  the  city  the  preceding  week,  and 
preached  a  single  discourse  in  the  church  in  Ce- 
dar street,  under  the  care  of  the  late  Dr.  John 
B.  Komeyn,  and  who  was  then  in  Philadelphia. 
While  there,  a  spectator  of  the  transactions  of 
the  Assembly,  the  Session  passed  the   resolution 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  18 

inviting  liim  to  supply  the  pulpit.  He  accepted 
this  invitation,  and  occupied  the  pulpit  the  first 
Sabbath  in  June,  preaching  in  the  morning  from 
the  words,  "  Wherefore  come  ye  out  from  among 
them,  and  be  ye  separate,  and  touch  not  the  un- 
clean thing,  and  I  will  be  a  father  unto  you,  and 
ye  shall  be  my  sons  and  daughters,  saith  the 
Lord  Almighty;"  and  in  the  evening,  to  a 
crowded  audience,  from  the  words,  "  By  the 
grace  of  God,  I  am  what  I  am."  I  hold  in  my 
hand  the  identical  discourses  which  I  then 
preached,  and  have  often  been  filled  with  won- 
der that  these  two  jejune  and  puerile  discourses 
should  have  decided  the  question  on  which  so 
many  interests  depended  for  time  and  eternity. 
But  the  hand  of  God  was  in  the  whole  proce- 
dure. At  the  close  of  the  morning  service^  and  in 
the  churchy  the  Session  had  a  meeting,  at  which 
Dr.  Rodgers  presided,  and  which  the  deacons  and 
trustees  were  invited  to  attend,  at  which  they 
unanimously  resolved  that  notice  be  given  from 
the  pulpit,  at  the  close  of  the  afternoon  and 
evening  service,  that  the  congregation  assemble 
the  next  day  to  take  into  consideration  the  pro- 
priety of  making  out  a  call  for  Mr.  Gardiner 
Spring  to  become  the  stated  pastor  of  the  Brick 
church. 

On  the  following  day  that  meeting  was  held, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Milledoler,  then  the  pastor  of  the 


14  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

cliurch  in  Rutgers  street,  presiding,  and  a  unani- 
mous call  was  made  out  for  tlie  proposed  candi- 
date. I  was  greatly  embarrassed  by  this  unex- 
pected invitation.  A  call  had  already  been  pre- 
sented to  me  from  the  church  in  Andover,  Mas- 
sachusetts, from  the  Park  Street  church  in  Bos- 
ton, and  at  the  same  time  I  had  been  requested 
to  receive  a  call  from  the  church  in  New  Haven. 
The  elders  of  the  Brick  church  were  urgent  for 
a  prompt  and  immediate  decision,  on  account  of 
the  peculiar  state  of  the  congregation ;  and 
though  I  did  not  formally  answer  the  call  till 
the  6th  of  July,  I  gave  to  Mr.  John  Mills,  the 
leading  ruling  elder,  such  intimations  of  my  pur- 
pose that  they  had  a  right  to  consider  me,  and 
did  consider  me,  as  their  minister.  It  appeared 
to  my  own  mind  the  call  of  the  Great  Head  of 
the  church  to  a  field  of  labor  too  important  to  be 
compared  with  others,  and  too  unequivocal  to  be 
misunderstood.  Unfitted  for  it  as  I  was,  yet  en- 
couraged to  believe  that  I  should  have  strength 
according  to  my  day,  I  accepted  the  solemn 
charge,  and  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of 
New  York,  and  installed  the  pastor  of  this  peo- 
ple on  the  8th  of  August,  1810.  Of  the  Presby- 
tery by  which  I  was  ordained,*  consisting  of  Rev. 


*  Among  those  who  were  subsequently  received  into  it,  the  follow- 
ing ministers  also  sleep  in  the   dust: — Rev.  William  Boardman,   Rev. 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  15 

Dr.  Rodgers,  Rev.  George  Faitoute,  Rev.  Peter 
Fish,  Rev.  Philip  Milledoler,  Rev.  Samuel  Miller, 
Rev,  John  B.  Romeyn,  and  the  Rev.  Ezra  Stiles 
Ely,  not  one  remains. 

The  fathers,  where  are  they  ?  and  the  younger 
prophets  do  not  live  forever.  The  distinguished 
individuals  to  whom  I  was  under  the  greatest 
obligations,  so  long  as  they  remained  members 
of  the  Presbytery,  were  the  Rev.  Dr.  Miller  and 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Perrine,  botb  of  whom  filled  the 
office  of  Professor  of  Churcli  History  and  Gov- 
ernment in  our  theological  seminaries,  and  died 
full  of  years  and  full  of  honors.  Their  uniform 
friendship,  their  kind  and  gentleman-like  deport- 
ment toward  me,  their  wise  counsels,  their  active 
assistance  in  my  arduous  work,  the  interest  they 
took  in  my  usefulness,  and  the  influence  they  ex- 
erted in  my  favor  in  seasons  of  solicitude,  conflict 


John  Teasman,  Rev.  Henry  Blatchford,  Rev.  Philip  M.  Whelpley,  Rev. 
Samuel  Whelpley,  Rev.  John  B.  Romeyn,  Rev.  Mathias  Bruen,  Rev. 
Henry  P.  Strong,  Rev.  Mathew  L.  R.  Perrine,  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Chriet- 
man.  Rev.  Henry  Hunter,  Rev.  Elias  Crane,  Rev.  Daniel  Newell,  Rev. 
Seymour  P,  Funk,  Rev.  Stephen  N.  Rowan,  Rev.  R  W.  Baldwin, 
Rev.  Daniel  Carroll,  Rev.  Joseph  Sanford,  Rev.  Henry  Wliite,  Rev. 
George  W.  Perkins,  Rev.  Erskine  Mason,  Rev.  Truman  Norton,  Rev.  A. 
J.  Graham.  Rev.  John  Little,  Rev.  S.  Larned,  Rev.  E.  Holt,  Rev.  Wal- 
ter King,  Rev.  Ward  Stafford,  Rev.  Flavel  S.  Mines,  Rev,  Isaac  Lewis, 
Rev.  F.  Chamberlain,  Rev.  Albert  Judson,  Rev.  George  Bourne,  Rev. 
Robert  Birch,  Rev,  Moses  C.  Searl,  Rev.  Charles  M.  Oakly,  Rev.  George 
Carrington,  Rev.  John  Anderson,  Rev.  Nathaniel  S.  Prime,  Rev.  Icha- 
bod  S.  Spencer,  and  Rev.  Samuel  E,  Corniah. 


16  BRICK   CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

and  depression,  demand  from  me  this  public  and 
grateful  acknowledgment. 

During  the  first  year  of  my  ministry,  I  was 
constrained  by  necessity  to  the  preparation  of 
those  discourses  which  I  could  most  easily  pre- 
pare. My  subjects  were  such  as  were  most  famil- 
iar to  my  own  mind,  rather  than  those  which 
were  demanded  by  the  character  and  condition 
of  the  congregation.  But  no  sooner  did  it  please 
God  to  give  me  the  confidence  of  the  people, 
than  topics  were  carefully  selected  with  a  more 
special  i-egard  to  the  indications  of  divine  provi- 
dence, and  the  wants  of  those  to  whom  I  was 
called  to  minister.  Both  the  elders  and  the  peo- 
ple expected  from  me  discourses  that  were  ad- 
dressed to  the  popular  ear  and  taste.  There  was 
a  standard  of  preaching  and  a  feeling  on  this 
subject  which  tried  and  embarrassed  me,  and 
which  led  to  a  carefully  prepared  discourse  from 
the  words,  "  Speak  unto  us  smooth  things."  God 
was  pleased  to  put  honor  upon  this  discourse,  and 
to  produce  the  conviction  on  the  minds  of  those 
who  heard  it,  that  the  preacher's  business  is  to 
preacli  His  truths  and  leave  the  consequences 
with  Him,  and  that  instead  of  aiming  to  please 
men^  his  great  aim  ought  to  be  to  please  God^ 
who  trieth  the  hearts. 

There  was  at  that  time  prevalent  in  the  city  a 
sort  of  hybrid  theology,  half  Arminian  and  half 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  17 

Antinomian — tinctured  witli  the  views  of  "Mar- 
shal on  Sanctification,"  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
ritualism  of  High  Church  Episcopacy  on  the  other 
— which,  young  as  I  was,  I  felt  myself  called  on 
to  investigate  and  resist.  In  the  main,  it  was 
evangelical  and  Calvinistic,  but  it  was  hyper- 
Calvinism,  and  not  that  hind  of  Calvinism  which 
is  taught  in  the  Bible.  Some  of  my  own  people 
were  not  a  little  imbued  with  it,  and  it  led  to  a 
series  of  discourses  on  the  "  Discriminating  traits 
of  Christian  character,"  in  which  the  agitated  ques- 
tions were  treated,  not  polemically,  but  practical- 
ly. These  discourses  the  Great  Head  of  the 
church  condescended  to  attend  with  his  blessing, 
and  to  make  the  means  of  disturbing  false  hopes, 
and  bringing  many  persons  out  of  darkness  into 
his  marvellous  lis^ht. 

It  was  the  preparation  of  these  discourses  which 
first  directed  my  own  thoughts  to  the  discussion 
of  subjects  in  a  series  of  discussions^  comprising 
from  twenty  to  thirty  discourses  on  the  same 
general  topic,  so  many  of  which  have  been  de- 
livered in  this  sanctuary,  and  subsequently  found 
their  way  to  the  press.  The  most  important  of 
the  series  was  that  which,  in  the  order  of  time, 
immediately  followed  the  discussions  on  Christian 
characteristics.  It  comprised  a  system  of  theology, 
and  consisted  of  more  than  one  hundred  discours- 
es. It  was  the  great  effort  of  my  life.  The  pre- 
2 


18  BRICK   CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

paration  of  tliese  discourses  occupied  more  than 
three  years  of  laborious  and  continuous  study  and 
preaching.  Very  many  of  them  were  delivered 
on  the  evening  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  to  very 
large  audiences.  Nor  do  I  know  that  any  series 
of  sermons  preached  by  me  have  been  listened  to 
with  greater  interest,  or  have  been  more  exten- 
sively useful.  It  was  a  system  of  theology  not 
prepared  for  the  schools,  but  for  the  people.  And 
while  it  blinked  no  hard  questions,  save  those 
which  the  word  of  God  bids  us  to  let  alone,  its 
main  object  was  to  show  the  bearing  of  every 
truth  upon  the  conscience  and  heart ;  to  exalt 
God,  and  to  lay  the  sinner,  humbled  and  with- 
out excuse,  trembling,  yet  hoping,  at  the  foot 
of  the  cross.  The  practical  ajyplicatioii  of  every 
doctrine  was  the  most  labored  part  of  almost 
every  discourse  ;  nor  have  I  ever  preached  to 
more  solemn  audiences,  nor  with  more  evident 
tokens  of  the  divine  favor  and  presence,  than 
when  preaching  some  of  these  discourses.  One 
of  these,  I  well  recollect,  cost  six  weeks'  labor ; 
and  I  mention  this,  not  for  the  discouragement, 
but  the  encouragement  of  those  ministers  who, 
in  the  vigor  of  their  days,  are  willing  to  be 
worTcing  inen. 

My  preparations  for  the  Sabbath  have  been 
habitually,  almost  always  and  uniformly  made  in 
season;  never,  to  my  recollection,  except  in  two 


BEICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  19 

instances,  deferred  to  the  last  day  of  the  week ; 
nor  do  I  know  of  any  better  way  of  gaining  time, 
labor,  knowledge,  and  health,  than  such  an  ar- 
rangement. One  little  circumstance,  in  connection 
with  the  series  of  theological  discourses,  deserves 
here  to  be  mentioned,  that  gave  interest  to  them. 
During  their  delivery  in  the  winter  season,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  Thursday  evening  lecture,  there  was 
established  a  Bible-class,  or  rather  a  theological 
class,  in  "  the  old  Session-room,"  comprising  all  of 
both  sexes  who  chose  to  attend,  for  the  purpose 
of  reviewing,  examining,  and  enforcing,  by  ques- 
tion and  answer,  the  discourse  of  the  preceding 
Lord's  day.  It  was  a  large  class,  often  number- 
ing more  than  a  hundred,  and  though  it  consisted 
of  gentlemen  in  professional  and  literary  life,  of 
merchants,  and  mechanics,  and  teachers,  and  ladies 
of  greater  and  less  distinction ;  and  though  all 
liberty  was  allowed  of  proposing  questions  on 
subjects  of  difficulty,  it  was  a  religions  class,  and 
was  understood  to  be  a  religions  service.  There 
was  no  restraint,  but  the  most  unembarrassed  and 
cheerful  discussion ;  yet  there  was  no  rudeness, 
no  frivolity.  It  was  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  solemn  services  of  the  season,  and  gave  so- 
lemnity and  interest  to  all  our  other  services. 
God  was  with  us  by  the  influence  of  his  sacred 
Spirit.  And  when  we  came  to  the  practical  appli- 
cation of  any  such  great  doctrine  as  man's  depravity, 


20  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

the  sovereignty  of  God,  the  nature  of  holiness, 
the  nature  and  necessity  of  regeneration,  the 
great  atonement  of  his  Son,  and  the  retribution 
of  his  punitive  justice,  many  a  time  did  proud 
heads  droop,  and  the  question  was  answered  by 
a  tear.  Men  and  women  are  now  living,  who, 
though  widely  scattered,  will  never  forget  this 
beautiful  service.  And  here  commenced  the  first 
memorable  outpouring  of  God's  Spirit  upon  this 
people.  Not  far  from  thirty  of  this  class,  prin- 
cipally young,  where  turned  from  the  power  of 
Satan  unto  God,  some  of  whom  have  died  in  faith 
and  hope,  some  of  whom  live  to  exert  a  Christian 
influence,  and  some  of  whom  are  eminent  for  their 
usefulness  in  the  gospel  ministry. 

God  had  graciously  given  testimony  to  the 
word  of  his  grace,  as  here  preached,  at  earlier 
periods.  The  thought  has  no  doubt  often  crossed 
the  minds  of  reflecting  Christians  that  those  who 
have  occupied  a  place  on  the  earth  during  the 
last  fifty  years,  have  lived  in  a  remarkable  age  of 
the  world,  not  only  as  it  respects  science  and  the  arts, 
and  the  progress  of  civil  society,  but  in  regard  to 
the  cause  of  vital  piety.  The  period,  commenc- 
ing with  the  year  1792,  and  terminating  with 
1842,  was  a  memorable  period  in  the  history  of 
the  American  Church.  Scarcely  any  portion  of 
it,  except  the  high  church  Episcopalian  and  the 
Unitarian    churches    of  Massachusetts,   but  were 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  21 

graciously  visited  by  copious  effusions  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  From  north  to  south,  and  from  east  to 
west,  our  male,  and  more  especially  our  female 
academies,  our  colleges,  and  our  churches,  drank 
largely  of  this  fountain  of  living  waters.  It  was 
my  privilege  to  enter  upon  the  course  of  academi- 
cal life  not  far  from  the  meridian  of  this  bright 
day.  There  were  no  subjects  that  interested  my 
mind  more  deeply  when  I  began  my  ministry 
among  this  people,  than  those  revivals  of  religion 
which  passed  over  the  land  of  my  boyhood.  This 
interest  increased  with  time,  and  official  labors 
and  responsibility,  and  exercised  a  most  important 
influence  upon  my  whole  course.  Sparse  clouds 
of  mercy  had  been  hovering  over  the  congrega- 
tion during  the  first  four  years  of  my  ministry, 
and  not  a  few,  especially  of  those  in  middle  life, 
had  been  brought  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
year  1814  was  a  year  of  severe  labor  and  deep 
solicitude ;  as  it  drew  towards  its  close,  of  great 
discouragement  and  depression.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  I  must  abandon  my  post,  and  that  neither 
my  mind,  my  heart,  nor  my  health  was  adequate 
to  its  constantly  accumulating  duties.  My  intel- 
lectual resources  seemed  to  be  exhausted,  and 
drained  dry.  Many  a  time,  after  preaching,  did 
I  remain  long  in  the  pulpit  that  I  might  not  en- 
counter the  faces  of  the  people  as  I  left  the  church; 
and  many  a  time,  when  I  left  it,  did  I  feel  that 


22  .  BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

I  could  never  preach  another  sermon.  Yet  I 
labored  on  week  after  week,  without  discovering 
to  what  extent  the  Spirit  of  God  was  carrying 
forward  his  own  noiseless  work.  I  perceived 
nothing  to  encourage  me  but  an  unusual  enlarge- 
ment and  urgency  in  prayer,  a  great  facility  in 
the  selection  of  fitting  themes  for  the  pulpit, 
and  more  freedom  and  earnestness  in  declaring 
the  whole  counsel  of  God.  God  remarkably  in- 
terposed to  relieve  my  mind  from  its  depression, 
and  gave  me  such  enlarged  and  delightful  views 
of  his  truth,  that  my  whole  ministry  received  a 
new  and  cheered  impulse.  It  was  easy,  also,  to 
perceive  that  the  spirit  of  grace  and  supplication 
was  being  poured  out  upon  the  people.  The 
weekly  prayer-meeting  and  the  weekly  lecture 
were  full  of  interest.  Days  of  fasting  and  prayer 
were  occasionally  observed,  and  a  Saturday  even- 
ing prayer-meeting  was  established  by  the  young 
men  of  the  congregation.  Our  Sabbaths  became 
deeply  solemn  and  affecting ;  we  watched  for 
them  like  those  who  watch  for  the  morning, 
and  I  verily  believe  we  anticipated  them  with 
greater  pleasure  and  expectation  than  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  earth  ever  anticipated  their 
brightest  jubilee.  This  was  the  first  strongly 
marked  revival  of  God's  work  among  this  people ; 
and  I  take  this  notice  of  it  because  it  was  so  em- 
phatic an  expression  of  God's  goodness  to  your 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  23 

young  minister.  Poor  a  tiling  as  I  have  been,  and 
still  continue  to  be,  it  was  this  work  of  grace  which 
made  me  what  I  am ;  which  gave  me  entirely  new 
views  of  the  great  objects  of  the  ministry,  and 
made  my  work  my  joy.  I  loved  it  before,  but 
never  so  ardently  as  then.  But  for  this  early 
season  of  mercy,  during  the  summer  of  1814, 1  do 
not  see  how  I  could  ever  have  remained  among  you. 
It  was  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our 
eyes.  The  ingathering  was  not  great,  but  it  was 
the  finest  of  the  wheat.  I  may  not  mention  their 
names. 

This  was  but  the  beginning  of  the  days  of  mercy. 
The  commencement  of  the  year  1815  was  the 
dawning  of  a  still  brighter  day.  The  last  Sabbath 
of  the  old  year  and  the  evening  services  of  that 
Sabbath  will  be  long  remembered.  Eight  or  ten 
persons,  during  the  following  week,  were  found  to 
be  awake,  and  in  earnest  for  their  salvation.  The 
whole  winter  was  a  day  of  the  right-hand  of  the 
Most  High.  The  cloud  of  mercy  extended  itself 
through  the  following  spring,  and  summer,  and 
autumn.  In  the  month  of  November  the  Bible- 
class  was  reorganized,  the  Saturday  evening  prayer- 
meeting  was  renewed,  and  God  appeared  to  take 
the  work  into  his  own  hands.  There  were  com- 
plaint and  hostility ;  there  were  not  wanting  appre- 
hensions in  the  minds  of  some  of  the  pastors  and 
churches  in  the  city  that  the  work  savored  more  of 


24  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

fanaticism  tlian  intelligent  and  sober  thought.    But 
the  apprehensions  were  groundless.    The  blessing 
was  near ;  the  sacred  influence  was  silent  as  the  dew 
of  heaven.    There  was  no  outbreak  and  no  disorder. 
There  was  prayer.     There  was  solemn  and  earnest 
preaching.    There  were  unexpected  and  unthought- 
of  instances  of  seriousness  among  the  gay  and  frivo- 
lous, in  the  families  of  the  rich  as  well  as  the  poor, 
among  the  immoral  as  well  as  the  moral,  and  many 
were  the  instances   of  conversion   to   God.     The 
third  Thursday  of  January  was  set  apart  by  about 
thirty  members  of  the  church  as  a  day  of  fasting, 
humiliation,  and  prayer.   It  was  in  a  private  house 
in  the  rear  of  St.  Paul's,  in  Church  street ;  and  such 
a  day  I  never  saw  before,  and  have   never   seen 
since.     It  was  closed  under  strong  and  confident 
expectation  that  God  was  near,  and  that  his  Spirit 
was   about   largely  to  descend  upon  the  people. 
And  so  it  was.     A  delightful  impulse  was  given  to 
the  work  by  this  day  of  prayer.     The  promise  was 
made  good,  "Before  they  call  I  will  answer,  and 
while  they  are  yet  speaking  I  will  hear."     The 
weekly  lecture,  attended  on  the  evening  of  that 
day  was  perhaps  the  most  solemn  service  of  my 
ministry.     The  subject  of  the  discourse  was  sug- 
gested by  the  words,  "  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto 
you,  Ye  must  be  born  again."     God  was  with  the 
hearers  and  the  preacher ;  his  Spirit  moved  them 
as  the  trees  of  the  forest  are  moved  by  a  mighty 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  26 

wind.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the 
minds  of  more  than  one  hundred  persons  were 
deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  their  lost  condi- 
tion as  sinnei's,  and  their  need  of  an  interest  in 
Christ,  on  that  evening.  Enemies  were  silenced : 
membera  of  other  churches  came  among  us  to  see 
and  mark  the  character  of  the  work  for  themselves, 
and  all  classes  were  constrained  to  confess,  "This  is 
the  finger  of  God."  Between  one  and  two  hun- 
dred attended  the  meetings  for  religious  inquiry 
and  conversation,  and  deep  solemnity  pervaded  the 
whole  people.  There  was  great  eagerness  for  relig- 
ious instruction,  and  great  satisfjiction  in  the  soul- 
humiliatins^  and  soul-encouraofini?  doctrines  of  the 
cross.  The  work  was  rapid.  The  period  of 
awakening  and  conviction  in  many  instances  was 
very  short — so  short  that  older  Christians  began  to 
doubt  the  genuineness  of  such  conversions.  There 
was  no  reason  for  the  doubt.  Some  of  the  brightest 
and  most  enduring  Christians  amongst  us  were 
those  very  persons  whose  conversion  was  almost 
as  sudden  as  that  of  Saul  of  Tarsus.  The  gathering 
of  this  protracted  harvest  was  rich,  consisting  some- 
times of  thirty  and  forty,  and  at  one  communion  of 
more  than  seventy,  filling  the  broad  aisle  of  the 
church — a  lovely  spectacle  to  God,  angels,  and  men. 
There  have  been  five  seasons  of  the  especial 
outpouring  of  God's  Spirit  upon  this  people  dur- 
ing the  ministry  of  their  present  pastor.      They 


26  BKICK  CHUECH  MEMOKIAL. 

were  interspersed  between  the  years  1812  and 
1834,  more  or  less  copious,  but  always  seasons 
of  delightful  refreshing  from  the  presence  of 
the  Lord.  If  the  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit, 
they  are  proved  to  have  been  the  fj'uit  of  God's 
Spirit.  The  subjects  of  this  work  of  grace  have, 
in  almost  all  instances,  run  well;  they  have 
turned  out  intelligent  and  active  Christians. 
Many  of  them  have  been  called  to  their  last 
earthly  rest;  nor  shall  I  forget  the  blessedness 
and  the  blessed  scenes  of  their  last  hours.  Many 
of  them  are  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  more 
the  wives  of  ministers.  Many  of  them  are 
teachers  and  superintendents  of  Sabbath-schools. 
Many  of  them  are  ruling  elders  and  deacons  in 
other  churches,  while  some  remain  in  the  hon- 
orable fulfilment  of  these  ofiices  among  our- 
selves. Very  many  of  them  are  scattered  through 
this  wide  land,  and  distant  churches  and  the  dis- 
tant wilderness  are  made  glad  for  them.  I  never 
was  so  gratefully  impressed  with  this  fact,  and 
with  the  high  privilege  of  preaching  the  gospel 
in  this  sanctuary,  as  on  an  unexpected  tour 
through  Western  New  York,  and  the  Western 
States  on  the  Upper  Mississippi.  Everywhere 
I  met  those  who  remembered  the  young  minister 
and  the  Old  Session-room.  I  heard  of  the  death 
of  some  far  away ;  and  it  was  affecting  to  learn 
that  in  their  last  hours  their  thoughts  of  grate- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  27 

ful  praise   were   turned   toward   these  scenes  of 
mercy. 

It  will  be  found  by  an  inspection  of  our  rec- 
ords, that  after  the  separation  of  the  Brick  and 
Wall  Street  churches,  and  before  the  installa- 
tion of  the  present  pastor,  the  Session  were  faith- 
fully employed  in  acts  of  painful  discipline. 
Church  discipline  is  not  less  truly  an  ordinance 
of  God  than  church  communion.  No  church 
can  prosper  that  connives  at  heresy  or  immoral- 
ity among  its  communicants.  This  unwelcome 
duty  was  faithfully  pursued  for  several  years 
after  my  settlement  among  this  people,  and  has 
been  discharged  with  perfect  unanimity  ever 
since.  In  the  early  part  of  my  ministry  there 
were  some  avowed  infidels  in  the  church,  who 
were  the  disciples  of  Paine  and  Palmer;  there 
were,  also,  avowed  Universalists ;  there  have 
been,  from  time  to  time,  immoral  men  and  licen- 
tious, whom  no  means  could  reclaim,  and  they 
have  been  cast  out.  It  has  often  been  at  great 
sacrifice  •  of  feeling,  and  some  of  interest  and  in- 
fluence, that  these  acts  of  discipline  have  been 
performed;  but,  however  reluctantly  and  cau- 
tiously, it  is  a  work  which  has  been  done.  There 
have  also  been  evils  in  the  church  at  large  with 
which  the  Brick  church  has  sympathized,  and  in 
the  pressure  of  which  it  has  endeavored  to  exert 
a  healing  and  conservative  influence.     The  great 


28  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

scliism  in  the  Presbyterian  cliurcli  in  the  United 
States,  which  issued  in  the  excision  of  so  many 
churches  in  Western  New  York,  was  one  in 
which  this  church  took  no  part,  and  which  it  en- 
deavored to  prevent.  We  saw  and  felt  that 
there  were  errors  in  doctrine  and  in  church  pol- 
ity that  were  at  variance  with  our  standards ; 
but  it  was  our  judgment  that  there  was  a  consti- 
tutional remedy  for  them,  and  that  it  ought  to 
have  been  adopted.  We  had  no  confidence  in 
the  men  who  were  the  leaders  of  the  New 
School  party,  and  believed  that  their  aims  were 
to  secure  exclusive  power ;  but  we  could  not  be- 
lieve that  the  mass  of  their  followers  were  not 
true  to  our  standards,  and  could  never  be  per- 
suaded that  such  a  wholesale  excision,  without 
any  previous  trial,  was  consistent  with  sound 
Presbyterianism.  Yet  all  our  sympathies  in  doc- 
trine and  in  polity  were  with  the  Old  School. 
We  w^ere  crowded  to  the  wall,  and  called  on  to  de- 
cide whether  or  not  our  allotment  should  be  cast 
with  the  New  School,  who  had  abandoned  them 
selves  to  leaders  with  whom  we  had  no  sort  of  sym- 
pathy, or  with  the  Old  School,  with  whom  our 
doctrinal  views  and  views  of  church  order  were 
in  unison,  while  we  disapproved  of  their  exclud- 
ing acts.  Nor  did  we  long  hesitate,  but  formed 
our  decision,  after  having  frankly  expressed  our 
dissent  from  their  measures,  to  remain  with  the 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  29 

excinding  party.  This  was  an  unliappy  division, 
thougli  overruled  for  good.  There  are  hundreds 
of  as  good  men  and  sound  Presbyterians  in  the 
excinded  churches  as  are  to  be  found  among  our- 
selves ;  and  when  time,  that  great  healer,  shall 
have  purged  them  of  the  unhallowed  leaven, 
and  fostered  a  more  fraternal  spirit  in  both  these 
branches  of  the  great  Presbyterian  family  in  this 
land,  we  doubt  not  they  will  once  more  become 
united  and  harmonious.  Blame  was  imputed  to 
us  by  both  parties  for  our  neutral  course;  but 
we  did  not  think  it  neutral.  Our  decision  to  re- 
main with  the  Old  School  was  prompt  and  firm, 
and  not  less  prompt  and  firm  was  our  Protest 
against  its  excinding  acts,  and  that  Protest  now 
stands  on  the  records  of  the  Presbytery.  We 
did  not  deem  this  a  neutral  course ;  nor  could  we, 
with  an  honest  conscience,  have  adopted  any 
other,  without  fomenting  still  further  disunion,  and 
forming,  as  was  seriously  thought  of,  a  third  party 
in  a  church  which  ought  ever  to  have  been  one. 
In  those  great  and  benevolent  enterprises  for 
which  the  age  in  which  we  live  has  been  distin- 
guished, it  has  been  the  privilege  of  the  Brick 
church  to  bear  her  part.  Taking  the  forty-six 
years  of  my  pastorate  together,  no  church  in  the 
land  has  given  more  bountifully  to  the  cause  of 
domestic  and  foreign  missions.  It  has  done  not 
a  little  also  in  the  work  of  educating  poor  and 


30  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

pious  young  men  for  the  gospel  ministry.  Bos- 
ton, New  York,  Elizabethtown,  Princeton,  and 
tlie  West  and  far  West  to  tbis  day  have  eminent 
ministers,  in  the  Congregational,  Presbyterian, 
and  Dutch  Reformed  churches,  who  were  bene- 
ficiaries of  this  church. 

Of  God's  goodness  toward  myself,  I  might 
write  volumes  without  exhausting  the  theme. 
My  own  life  and  the  life  of  her  he  so  early  gave 
me,  have  been  spared  to  us,  while  the  great  mass 
of  the  companions  of  our  youth  among  this  peo- 
ple sleep  among  the  dead.  It  is  a  coincidence 
which  an  old  man  may  be  pardoned  for  taking 
notice  of,  that  this  day  on  which  we  now  meet, 
completes  the  fiftieth  year  of  our  married  life. 
It  was  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  May,  1806,  the 
Lord's  day,  that  we  were  united  in  bonds  not  to 
be  severed  but  by  death.  This  twenty-fifth  of 
May,  1856,  also  the  Lord's  day,  celebrates  our 
"  golden  wedding,"  and  we  are  both  well  pleased 
in  thus  inviting  you  to  this  religious  celebration, 
which  looks  back  upon  so  many  interesting  facts 
in  the  narrative  of  our  pilgrimage.  Thirteen  of 
our  children  were  born  in  the  midst  of  you,  and 
baptized  in  this  house  of  God ;  and  you  have 
generously  borne  with  their  failings  and  ours. 
Six  of  the  fifteen  have  died  since  our  connection 
with  you,  and  you  have  sympathized  with  our  tri- 
als, and    liberally  provided    for    our  wants  and 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  81 

theirs.  Your  unexpected  bounty  to  us  two  years 
ago,  when  I  was  thousands  of  miles  from  you,  and 
knew  not  of  the  generous  arrangement  so  nobly 
made  in  order  to  relieve  the  solicitude  of  the 
evening  of  our  days,  demands  tliis  grateful  and 
public  acknowledgment.* 

*  The  bounty  here  referred  to,  and  so  unexpectedly  dispensed,  will 
the  bettor  appear  from  the  following  documents  : 

New  York,  7th  June,  1854. 

Pdrsuant  to  public  notice  given  from  the  pulpit,  a  meeting  of  the  male  members  and 
stated  hearers  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  church  in  Beekman  street,  was  held  this  day 
in  the  church,  to  consider  and  determine,  agreeably  to  said  notice,  upon  a  subject  of 
interest  to  the  congregation,  embraced  in  the  eighth  section  of  the  act  to  provide  for 
the  Incorporation  of  Ileiigious  Societies,  in  relation  to  Minister's  salaries. 

On  motion,  Saml-kl  Marsh,  £«q.,  was  called  to  preside  as  Chairman,  and  MosES 
Allkn,  Esq  ,  was  appointed  Secretary. 

The  notice  under  which  the  meeting  was  called  having  been  read,  the  following  reso- 
lutions were  offered,  and,  after  having  been  duly  considered,  were  unanimously 
adopted : 

I.  In  consideration  of  the  arduous  labors  of  our  e.Ycellent  pastor  for  a  long  series 
of  years,  at  a  salary  below  the  average  amount  paid  to  many  clergymen  of  this  city,  to 
remunerate,  in  some  measure,  his  past  services,  and  more  adequately  compensate  them 
in  future,  7?e.xotoe</,That  the  salary  of  the  Kev.  I)r.  Spring  hereafter  be  fixed  at  five 
thousand  dollars  per  annum,  commencing  with  the  present  fiscal  year. 

II.  Jienolced,  That  the  preceding  resolution  be  communicated  to  tlie  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, and  that  they  be  requested  to  ratify  the  same,  agreeably  to  said  act. 

III.  Jlexolvfd,  Thai  Horace  Ilolden,  Samuel  Marsh,  Moses  Allen,  Guy  Ricliards,  and 
Ira  Bliss,  be  a  committee  to  communicate  these  resolutions  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  and 
to  express  to  hiiu  llie  undiminished  confidence  and  affection  of  this  church  and  congre- 
gation, and  their  earnest  prayer  that  God  may  long  preserve  him  to  be  His  minister  to 
this  people. 

SAMUEL  MARSH,  Cltairman. 
Moses  Allkk,  Secretary. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  church,  on  the  13th 
of  June,  ISVt,  Mr.  Ilolden  presented  to  the  Board  a  certified  copy  of  tlie  proceedings 
of  a  meeting  of  the  congregation,  held  in  tlie  church,  on  Wednesday,  the  7th  day  of 
June  u'.t ,  which  was  read,  and  ordered  to  be  entered  on  the  minutes. 

Whereupon,  on  motion,  it  was  unanimously  Jtenolved ^thnl  this  Hoard  do  approve  of, 
and  hereby  ratify  and  confirm,  the  aforesaid  proceedings  of  the  congregation,  fl.\ing  the 
salary  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Spring  at  five  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  to  commence  the 
first  day  of  May  last. 

A  true  copy  from  the  Minutes. 

THOMAS  KG0LE8T0N,  Clerk. 


32  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

My  laboi-s  among  you  have  been,  for  the  year 
past,  curtailed  and  embarrassed  by  the  visitation 
of  God.  The  world  of  sense  has  been  for  the 
most   part   shut  out  from  my  obstructed  vision; 

New  York,  IStA  June,  1854. 
Ret.  Dk.  Spriko  : — 

Dear  Sir  :  The  undersigned  have  been  appointed  a  committee  to  communicate  to 
you  the  accompanjing  resolutions,  passed  unanimously  at  a  meeting  of  the  congrega- 
tion, and  subsequently  in  like  manner  ratified  and  confirmed  by  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

It  affords  us  great  pleasure  to  discharge  this  duty,  and  it  is  only  embittered  with  the 
regret  that  tliis  act  of  justice  has  been  so  long  delayed,  much  of  which  delay  may  be 
chargeable  to  our  own  negligence  or  forgetfulness,  not  to  use  a  harsher  name. 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  state,  that  on  this  occasion  but  one  sentiment  pervaded 
the  entire  meeting;  not  the  slightest  dissent  was  manifested  in  thought,  word,  or  deed. 
It  was  the  spontaneous  expression  of  grateful  feelings  from  full  and  thankful  hearts. 

For  almost  half  a  century  you  have  occupied  the  same  post,  and  the  same  sphere  of 
labor  and  of  duty.  >v 

Some  of  us  have  sat  under  your  ministry  for  more  than  forty  years,  and  during  that 
long  period  can  bear  testimony  to  your  untiring  industry,  your  unl)ending  integrity  In 
the  exhibition  of  gospel  truth  amid  conflicts  and  parties,  and  your  entire  devotion  to  the 
appropriate  duties  of  the  ministry. 

We  feel,  too,  that  it  is  neither  flattery  to  you,  nor  vain-boasting  in  us,  but  a  thankful 
expression  of  gratitude  to  God,  to  say,  that  yours  has  not  been  an  unprofitable  minis- 
try, nor  your  influence  been  confined  to  this  church.  We  can  see  traces  of  your  faith- 
ful preaching,  marked  by  the  divine  Spirit,  not  only  in  our  city  and  vicinity,  but  in  al- 
most every  state  of  this  vast  republic ;  and  we  expect,  if  we  are  ever  so  happy  as  to 
arrive  at  our  Father's  house  on  high,  to  meet  multitudes  there  of  those  whom  neither 
you  nor  we  have  known  in  the  flesh,  brought  home  to  glory  through  your  instrumental- 
ity. 

It  is  a  source  of  delightful  reflection  to  us,  that  in  the  early  evening  of  your  days, 
after  so  long  a  ministry  among  us,  you  retain  the  undiminished  confidence  and  affection 
of  your  whole  people,  an  affection  as  warm  and  fresh  as  crowned  the  day  when  first 
you  devoted  your  youthful  prime  in  this  church,  to  Christ  and  his  cause. 

Our  beloved  pastor  !  these  expressions  but  feebly  represent  our  own  sincere  emotions. 

We  would  humbly  commend  you  to  the  Great  Head  of  the  church,  and  earnestly 
pray  that  He  may  preserve  you  yet  for  many  j'ears  to  come,  to  preach  the  everlasting 
gospel  to  this  people — that  He  may  make  you  perfect,  stablish,  strengthen,  settle  you; 
and  finally,  when  our  warfare  is  accomplished,  that  He  may  receive  you  and  us  to 
that  blessed  communion  where  our  love  shall  be  for  ever  perfect,  and  our  joy  for  ever 
fulL 

Respectfully  and  affectionately, 

HORACE  HOLDEN,  A 

SAMUEL  MARSH,      | 

MOSES  ALLEN,  V    Committee. 

IRA  BLISS,  I 

GUY  RICHARDS,       J 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  33 

a  heavy  cloud  has  hung  upon  it,  which  I  know- 
not  will  ever  be  so  removed  that  I  can  labor 
among  you  with  comfort  or  usefulness.  I  bow 
to  this  visitation ;  I  am  not  unhappy  under  it.  I 
have  no  doubt  of  the  care  and  faithfulness  of  our 
heavenly  Father  in  thus  laying  his  rod  upon  me. 
I  have  never  been  unhappy  in  my  work,  but 
have  greatly  rejoiced  in  it  as  in  every  view  my 
chosen  service ;  thankful  above  all  earthly  things 
that  God  was  pleased  to  put  me  into  the  minis- 
try. I  have  never  regretted  the  choice  for  a 
moment.  I  have  found  trials  in  it,  but  not  one 
more  than-  was  required  by  the  imperfections 
of  my  own  character,  my  position,  and  my  useful- 
ness ;  and  were  I  now  in  the  bloom  of  youth  and 
secular  promise,  of  all  employments  in  the  world  I 
would  choose  that  of  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 
With  all  my  unworthiness,  I  would  go  to  the 
throne  and  say,  "Here,  Lord,  am  I;  send  me!'" 
This  conviction  grows  upon  me  as  my  infirmity 
gradually  disqualifies  me  for  the  labors  to  which 
I  have  been  accustomed.  I  cannot  speak  of  the 
glad  emotions  which  fill  my  heart,  as,  in  the  sus- 
pension of  my  more  vigorous  studies,  I  sometimes 
look  over  the  thousands  of  manuscripts  I  have 
been  allowed  to  prepare,  and  reflect  upon  the 
privilege  of  having  been  permitted  to  utter  so 
much  precious  truth  to  this  beloved  people.  It 
is  a  delightful  view  to  my  own  mind,  that,  with 
3 


34  BEICK  CHUECH  MEMOEIAL. 

all  my  deficiencies,  God  has  not  permitted  me  to 
be  a  loiterer  in  his  vineyard,  and  that,  however 
imperfectly,  my  work  has  not  been  negligently 
done.  What  my  motives  have  been  another  day 
will  show.  Of  one  thing  I  am  confident,  that  I 
have  been  devoted  to  it,  regardless  of  all  other 
vocations.  My  great  cause  of  solicitude  now  is 
that  I  shall  wane,  and  fade,  and  faint,  and  die 
"  of  having  nothing  to  do."  I  find  these  days  of 
unreadiug  and  unstudious  repose  the  greatest 
trial  of  my  life,  except  my  sins.  I  ask  your  in- 
dulgence, your  sympathy,  and  your  prayers,  that 
God  would  give  me  a  cheerful  mind,- and  so  di- 
rect me  in  the  employment  of  my  time  that  my 
life  may  not  become  a  burden,  and  that  I  may 
not  be  a  cumberer  of  the  ground.  Yet,  I  may 
not,  I  do  not,  distrust  him.  Because  thou  hast  , 
been  my  help;  therefore,  under  the  shadow  of 
thy  wings  will  I  rejoice. 

And  now,  in  this  brief  review,  what  shall  we 
say  ?  One  thought  forces  itself  upon  your  minds 
and  my  own.  It  relates  to  a  theme  on  which  I 
have  so  often  dwelt  in  this  sacred  desk:  The 
goodness  of  God^  how  wonderful  it  is!  The  ris- 
ing and  setting  sun  proclaim  it,  and  every  star 
of  the  dark  night.  Like  the  milky  way,  it  fills 
the  heavens  with  its  whiteness  ;  and  like  the  rain- 
bow painted  on  the  clouds,  it  spans  them  with 
its  prismatic  beauty.  The  atmosphere  we  breathe 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  35 

is  surcliarged  witli  it,  and  it  is  conducted  off  in 
its  ten  thousand  electric  forms.  Every  bird,  fish, 
and  worm,  every  buzzing  insect,  every  plant  and 
flower,  and  every  blade  of  grass  inhale  it.  Every 
sea,  every  lake  and  fountain,  every  river  and 
stream  and  sparkling  dew-drop,  receive  alike 
their  riches  and  their  beauty  from  this  uncreated 
source.  How  much  more  richly  and  purely,  then, 
does  it  flow  here  in  the  sanctuary  where  all  its 
streams  are  confluent,  and  from  the  mountain- 
tops  of  Zion  send  gladness  through  the  city  of 
our  God !  We  cannot  comprehend  the  love 
that  brought  the  Lord  of  Glory  to  the  manger 
and  the  cross ;  that  here  proclaims  the  glad  tid- 
ings of  great  joy,  and  that  sends  forth  his  Spirit 
to  call  the  wanderers  home.  "  O  that  men 
would  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness !  "  "  How 
great  is  thy  goodness  to  them  that  fear  thee,* to 
them  that  put  their  trust  in  thee  before  the  sons 
of  men ! " 

I  love  this  place  where  I  now  stand — 

"  Here  my  best  friends,  my  kindred,  dwell ; 
Here  God,  my  Saviour,  reigns'." 

Had  any  one  told  me  twenty  years  ago  that  I 
should  live  to  see  it  abandoned  as  a  place  of  re- 
ligious worship,  I  should  have  thought  him  a  ro- 
mancer, if  not  a  madman  ;  yet  the  hour  of  aban- 
donment has  come.  On  an  occasion  like  the  present, 


36  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

sometliing  is  due  to  this  ancient  sanctuary.  The 
speaker  stands  here  for  the  last  time  ;  and  you, 
beloved  friends,  meet  for  the  last  time  in  the  con- 
secrated place  where  we  have  so  often  assembled 
for  the  worship  of  God.  As  before  intimated,  I 
am  not  ignorant  of  the  defects  of  my  ministry. 
Yet  have  I  this  thankful  conviction,  that,  so  far 
as  I  have  known  it,  I  have  not  shunned  to  declare 
the  whole  council  of  God.  If  I  have  not,  testify 
against  me  this  day.  We  call  upon  you  to  witness, 
we  call  upon  the  sainted  spirits  of  the  departed  to 
witness,  we  make  our  appeal  to  the  walls  of  this 
hallowed  edifice,  if  the  truth  of  God,  detached  from 
the  systems  of  human  philosophy,  from  the  mis- 
named improvements  and  ultraisms  of  the  age,  and 
from  the  popular  daubing  with  untempered  mor- 
tar, has  not  been  proclaimed  from  this  pulpit. 
This  house  has  also  been  greatly  endeared  to  us 
as  "  the  house  of  prayer,"  as  "  the  house  of  prayer 
for  all  people."  Many  are  the  seasons  which  the 
living  and  the  dead  have  here  enjoyed,  in  sweet 
communion  with  God  and  one  another.  This 
house  has  been  our  thankful  resort  in  prosperity ; 
in  adversity  it  has  been  our  refuge.  Here  the 
aged  and  the  young  have  come  for  the  first  and 
last  time  to  commemorate  the  love  of  Christ  at 
his  table.  Here  our  children  have  been  baptized, 
and  their  children  after  them,  and  here  we  have 
wept  and  prayed  together  as  God  has  called  them 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  87 

from  these  earthly  scenes.  Here  other  generations 
have  listened,  as  you  now  listen,  and  around  this 
spot  and  beneath  it  are  the  sepulchres  of  the  de- 
parted. I  seem  to  stand  to-day  amid  generations 
that  are  past,  so  vividly  does  my  imagination  peo- 
ple these  seats  with  faces  and  forms  whose  place 
now  knows  them  no  more.  Pleasant,  yet  mourn- 
ful, are  these  reminiscences ;  memory  has  no  associ- 
ations more  delightful  than  those  which  run  by 
the  waters  of  the  sanctuary.  This  house  has  also 
been  the  stranger's  home.  Of  this  and  of  that 
man  it  shall  be  one  day  said,  that  "  he  was  born 
here."  Many  a  wanderer  from  other  lands,  and 
more  from  distant  regions  of  our  own  broad  territory, 
have  here  sought  and  made  their  peace  with  God  ; 
while  many  a  backslider  has  been  restored,  amid 
scenes  which  have  given  joy  to  the  angels  of  God, 
and  told  of  the  yeai-s  of  the  right  -  hand  of  the 
Most  High.  Recollections  of  individual  character 
and  deep  and  tender  interest  gush  upon  us  to-day, 
which,  while  we  must  suppress,  are  full  of  thank- 
fulness and  praise.  "  We  have  thought  of  thy 
loving-kindness,  O  God,  in  the  midst  of  thy  tem- 
ple," that  "  we  may  tell  it  to  the  generations  fol- 
lowing," and  that  "  this  God  is  our  God,  for  ever 
and  ever,  and  will  be  our  guide  even  unto  death." 
But  our  work  and  our  privileges  in  this  house 
of  God  here  have  an  end.  It  is  His  voice  which 
to-day  says  to  us,  "  Arise  ye,  and  depart  hence,  for 


38  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

this  is  not  your  rest."  We  have  occupied  it  too 
long ;  and  although  it  has  been  for  the  benefit  and 
enlargement  of  other  congregations,  it  has  been 
not  only  to  the  diminution  of  our  strength,  but  to 
the  injury  of  our  habits  as  a  people,  and  almost  to 
the  breaking  up  of  our  second  service  on  the  Sab- 
bath. Notwithstanding  the  doubts  of  some,  and 
the  officious  and  uncalled-for  interference  of  others, 
we  ourselves  are  satisfied  thaff  this  once  tranquil 
and  central  spot  is  no  longer  a  place  of  repose 
either  for  the  preacher  or  the  hearers.  We  have 
no  longer  the  unobstructed  privileges  of  the  gospel. 
Our  weekly  lecture  and  our  weekly  prayer-meet- 
ing, as  well  as  our  Sabbath-school,  are  of  necessity 
discontinued ;  while  it  is  at  no  small  inconvenience 
that  a  single  religious  service  is  sustained  on  the 
Lord's  day.  The  question  has  been  asked,  Why 
not  leave  this  church  as  a  church  for  strangers,  and 
for  the  hotels  and  boarding-houses  in  this  part  of 
the  city  ?  To  this  we  have  this  conclusive  answer, 
We  ourselves  have  proposed  to  do  so.  At  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  I  myself  made 
the  proposition  to  the  churches  that  this  congrega- 
tion would  subscribe  $50,000  for  that  purpose,  on 
condition  that  the  other  congregations  would  unite 
in  raising  the  balance  of  $150,000.  The  Presby- 
tery received  the  proposal  with  favor,  and  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  take  it  into  consideration. 
That  committee  reported  against  the  proposed  ar- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL,  89 

rangement,  and  the  Presbytery  and  the  congrega- 
tions dropped  the  subject. 

We  have  come  to  the  conclusion,  therefore,  to 
quit  this  edifice,  not  indeed  without  difiiculty, 
but  deliberately.  And  we  owe  many  thanks  to 
those  who,  amid  all  the  turmoil  from  without,  all 
the  foreign  influence,  and  all  the  gradual  derelic- 
tion from  our  services  of  our  own  congregation, 
have  stood  by  us  in  this  crisis  of  our  history.  For 
years  we  have  been  almost  in  transitu  y'  and  it 
has  put  in  requisition  no  small  degree  of  attach- 
ment to  the  house  of  their  fathers,  and  no  small 
degree  of  Christian  principle,  to  make  the  sacri- 
fices that  have  been  indispensable  to  our  contin- 
uance as  a  well-organized  department  in  the 
house  of  God.  While  none  of  us  are  without 
lingering  attachments  to  these  ancient  courts,  few 
if  any  among  ourselves  now  question  the  expe- 
diency, the  duty,  of  the  removal.  We  have  been 
a  harmonious  people  for  six  and  forty  years ;  and 
we  are  now  harmonious  in  this  great  and  agitat- 
ing question.  And  although  we  cannot  say  that 
we  leave  these  walls  without  regret,  we  can  say 
we  leave  them  for  conscience'  sake,  and  at  the 
bidding  of  our  divine  Leader.  The  house  does 
not  belong  to  us^  but  to  Him ;  and  therefore  we 
are  bound  to  husband  the  property  entrusted  to 
us,  for  the  best  interests  of  His  kingdom.  We 
bid  it  adiev^,  to  follow  the  guidance  of  his  provi- 


4:0  BEICK  CHUKCH  MEMORIAL. 

dence,  and  pitch  our  tabernacle  under  the  pillar 
and  the  cloud.  These  seats  will  no  longer  be 
occupied  by  us ;  this  pulpit  will  henceforth  be 
silent.  To  you  who  have  long  rejected  the  gos- 
pel as  here  proclaimed,  it  now  makes  its  last  call. 
Prayer  will  no  longer  ascend  from  this  altar ;  the 
songs  of  this  temple  will  now  cease.  Farewell, 
then,  thou  endeared  house  of  God !  thou  com- 
panion and  friend  of  my  youth,  thou  comforter 
of  my  later  years,  thou  scene  of  toil  and  of  re- 
pose, of  apprehension  and  of  hope,  of  sorrow  and 
of  joy,  of  man's  infirmity  and  of  God's  omnipo- 
tent grace,  farewell !  .  Sweet  pulpit,  farewell ! 
Blessed  altar,  farewell !  Throne  of  grace,  as 
here  erected,  and  where  God  no  longer  records 
his  name,  farewell ! 

But  not  to  Thee^  O  thou  that  hearest  prayer, 
thou  God  of  Zion,  who  dost  still  dwell  with  man 
upon  the  earth — not  to  Thee^  who  hast  said, 
"  Wherever  I  record  my  name,  I  will  come  unto 
thee,  and  I  will  bless  thee,"  do  we  say  farewell ! 
"  The  desire  of  our  souls  is  to  thy  Name,  and  to 
the  remembrance  of  Thee.  Whom  have  we  in 
heaven  but  Thee^  and  what  is  there  on  the  earth 
that  we  desire  beside  thee  ? "  Even  now,  at  this 
late,  this  last  hour,  from  the  bottom  of  our  hearts 
do  we  say,  "  If  thy  presence  go  not  with  us,  carry 
us  not  up  hence."  If  we  forget  Thee,  ever 
blessed    and    adorable    Saviour,   or    the    church 


BRICK  CHUECH  MEMORIAL.  41 

which  thou  hast  purchased,  or  the  Mount  Zion 
where  thou  dwellest,  let  our  right  hand  forget 
her  cunning,  let  our  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of 
our  mouth,  if  we  prefer  not  Thee  and  these 
above  our  chief  joy  ! 

Nor,  my  beloved  people,  is  it  to  you  that  your 
pastor  says  farewell.  These  brick  walls  and  this 
plastered  ceiling,  and  these  pillars  and  seats,  do 
not  constitute  the  Brick  Presbyterian  church.  Ye 
are  these  constituents,  and  "  ye  are  our  glory  and 
joy."  The  winter  of  life  is  too  near  for  me  to 
have  much  personal  interest  in  your  arrangements 
for  the  future.  My  pereonal  interests  and  repose 
would  be  the  better  consulted  by  remaining  where 
we  are.  My  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God,  and 
my  most  vivid  hopes,  are  for  your  usefulness  and 
benefit,  rather  than  my  own.  I  would  not  see  you 
a  dispersed  people.  And  while  it  is  with  concern 
that  I  say  this,  it  is  with  hope  rather  than  fear.  I 
would  fain  live  to  see  you  lengthening  your  cords 
and  strengthening  your  stakes.  But  whether  I 
live  or  die,  God  will  assuredly  be  with  you,  and 
bring  you  to  the  place  of  his  sanctuary.  "If  I 
shall  find  favor  in  his  eyes,  he  will  show  me  both 
it  and  his  habitation.  But  if  he  say  thus,  I  have 
no  delight  in  thee,  behold  here  I  am,  let  him  do  as 
seemeth  good  unto  him ! "  Thus  far  he  has  led  us 
on  in  mercy. 

These  days  of  solicitude  and  agitation  will  soon 


42  BRICK  CHUECH   MEMORIAL. 

be  over.  "  The  root  of  Jesse  "  yet  stands  as  an 
"  ensign  to  the  people,  and  his  rest  shall  be  glo- 
rious." Only  take  diligent  heed  and  be  very  cour- 
ageous to  do  his  will,  to  love  the  Lord  your  Grod, 
and  to  walk  in  his  ways,  and  to  keep  his  command- 
ments, and  to  cleave  unto  him,  and  to  serve  him 
with  all  your  heart  and  all  your  soul,  and  his  pres- 
ence and  blessing  shall  be  with  you  and  yours  for 
a  great  while  to  come  !  The  Lord  bless  you  and 
keep  you ;  the  Lord  cause  his  face  to  shine  upon 
you,  and  be  gracious  unto  you ;  the  Lord  lift  up 
his  countenance  upon  you,  and  give  you  peace ! 
His  name  be  upon  you  and  your  children !  Amen 
and  amen  !     And  let  all  the  people  say,  Amen ! 


'— j^ ■%>>»<:.VsV^\.  -s.'^v- .-.':., .  tf>  N. . 


KXTERIOR  OF  TfIR  NE^Y  BRICK  CHURCH  ON  MURRAY  HILL. 


THE   SANCTUARY. 

A    SEKMON; 

PREACHED  ON  THE  SIst  OF  OCTOBER,  1858,  AT  THE 

DEDICATION  OF  THE  NEW  BRICK  CHURCH 

ON  MURRAY  HILL. 


THE  SANCTUARY. 


"  Ye  shall  reverence  my  sanctuary." — ^LEvrncira  xix,  30. 

Strong  has  "been  the  desire  of  him  who  ad- 
dresses you  to  see  this  auspicious  day  ;  more  strong 
than  his  expectations.  The  removal  of  a  church 
hallowed  by  so  many  affecting  associations  as  those 
concentrated  around  the  place  of  our  fathers'  sep- 
ulchres ;  a  church  that  has  borne  no  insignificant 
part  in  our  national  history,  and  where  so  many 
distinguished  men  and  fathei-s  of  the  American 
Revolution  worshipped ;  a  church,  the  foundation 
of  which  was  laid  with  their  own  hands ;  a  church 
memorable  for  the  power  of  God  in  the  conversion 
of  men,  and  endeared  to  so  many  now  scattered 
over  this  broad  land, — ^was  an  enterprise  which 
none  of  us  anticipated  without  misgivings  of  heart, 
and  none  counted  on  accomplishing  without  diffi- 
culty. These  difficulties  met  us  on  every  side ; 
but  "  having  obtained  help  of  God,  we  continue  to 
the  present  day,"  the  same  organized  community 
with  which  such  multitudes  have  identified  their 


46  BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

sweetest  hopes,  where  their  graces  flourished, 
whence  their  pi-ayers  ascended,  and  on  which  they 
now  look  down  in  the  gladness  of  anticipation  and 
with  the  fervor  of  praise.  We  have  no  ordinary 
cause  for  thanksgiving  to  God,  and  for  mutual 
gratulation,  that,  after  an  exile  of  two  and  a  half 
years,  we  at  length  assemble  in  these  courts. 

We  meet  on  this  day  of  our  holy  solemnities  to 
dedicate  this  edifice  to  Him  to  whose  name  and 
praise,  we  trust,  it  will  ever  be  devoted.  We  would 
honor  Hwi^  by  putting  honor  upon  the  institutions 
of  his  own  appointment ;  He  himself  would  have 
us  reverence  his  sanctuary. 

The  subject  of  this  discourse,  therefore,  is  that 
one  great  word — 

The  Sanctuaey,  comprising,  as  it  does,  the  divine 
presence,  its  moral  power,  its  benevolent  influence, 
its  conservative  principles,  and  its  social  character. 

We  reverence  it, 

I.  In  the  first  place,  as  the  House  of  God. 

When  we  come  to  it,  we  shut  the  door  on  the  world, 
and  think  of  the  great  and  glorious  Being  who  occu- 
pies it.  It  was  his  early  promise,  "In  all  places  where 
I  record  my  name,  I  will  come  unto  thee,  and  I  will 
bless  thee."  His  presence  consecrated  the  field  and 
the  stone  where  Jacob  slept.  It  consecrated  the  bush 
on  Horeb,  and  the  "  tabernacle  of  witness  "  in  the  wil- 
derness. It  consecrated  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  as 
"  an  habitation  for  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob,"  and 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  47 

made  its  history  the  history  of  earth  and  heaven. 
It  was  holy  ground,  because  God  was  there.  No 
uncircumcised  could  enter  it,  nor  any  unclean  thing 
be  offered  on  its  altars.  When  the  Hebrews  were 
exiles  in  a  strange  land,  their  harps  hung  upon  the 
willows  because  they  had  no  symbols  of  the  di- 
vine presence.  When  their  temple  was  pillaged 
and  burnt,  and  the  wall  of  their  city  broken  down, 
and  its  palaces  destroyed  with  fire,  and  they  be- 
came tributary  to  foreign  kings,  their  glory  was 
departed,  because  the  Shekinah  was  gone,  and  the 
God  of  Israel  was  no  longer  among  them.  And 
when,  in  after  times,  their  temple  was  desecrated 
by  all  the  rites  of  paganism,  and  the  statue  of  Ju- 
piter was  set  up  on  the  altar  of  burnt  offering,  it 
was  no  longer  a  sanctuary.  And  now,  when  the 
proud  Moslem  sits  upon  the  throne  of  David,  and 
the  mosque  of  Omar  stands  on  Mount  Zion,  how 
emphatically  is  the  lesson  inculcated  on  the  world, 
that  the  God  of  Israel  dwells  no  lon<?er  in  Jerusa- 
lem,  no  longer  in  Mount  Gerizim,  but  with  every 
assembly  of  worshippei;s  gathered  in  his  name. 

This  is  the  high  privilege  of  every  Christian 
sanctuary.  If  the  pagan  world  reverences  its  tem- 
ples as  the  dwelling-place  of  its  deities,  how  much 
more  ought  Christians  to  look  upon  their  sanctua- 
ries as  sacred  in  the  sanctity  of  their  Oracle,  and 
the  presence  of  their  God. 

Solemn  thought,  that  the  King  eternal,  immor- 


48  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

tal,  and  invisible,  before  whom  the  loftiest  and  the 
holiest  are  lost  in  amazement,  bows  his  heavens  and 
comes  down  to  these  earthly  courts  !  Yet  is  it  a 
thought  that  cheers  us,  because,  while  he  comes  in 
the  splendor  of  his  rectitude,  he  comes  in  the  gush- 
ing tenderness  of  his  compassions  ;  while  he  comes 
to  stamp  disappointment  and  mockery  on  every 
hope  which  rests  not  on  him,  he  comes  as  the 
refuge  and  hope  of  the  lowly ;  and  comes,  not  so 
much  in  the  glory  that  encircled  Sinai  and  made 
the  prophet  tremble,  as  in  the  winning  loveliness, 
the  blended  and  attractive  glory,  which  shines  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Well  may  we  turn  aside  to  see  this  great  sight, 
^'■God  with  us^"^  within  the  walls  of  an  earthly  tem- 
ple. In  lowly  reverence  we  fall  before  this  pres- 
ent Deity  ;  the  celestial  here  bending  to  the  ter- 
restrial ;  the  unseen  and  all-seeing  One  dwelling  in 
the  framework  which  is  of  man's  device.  "  How 
dreadful  is  this  place ! "  yet  how  delightful  I 
"  Surely  this  is  none  other  than  the  house  of  God, 
and  the  gate  of  heaven!"  Well  may  all  hearts 
shout  with  joy  at  the  condescension  of  this  recon- 
ciled God.  The  sanctuary  is  the  presence-chamber 
of  the  King  of  kings ;  his  own  royal  banqueting- 
house,  and  the  "  mountain  of  his  holiness."  If  we 
look  into  the  book  of  nature,  or  into  the  revela- 
tions of  conscience,  or  into  the  writings  of  human 
philosophy  and  the  speculations  of  science,  we  find 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  49 

nothing  tliat  answers  the  question,  What  and  where 
is  God  ?  It  is  an  absolute,  abstract  Deity  the  hu- 
man mind  always  thinks  of,  until  he  is  revealed  in 
the  person  of  his  Son.  The  sanctuary  draws  aside 
the  veil,  behind  which  the  great  Jehovah  "  dwells 
in  the  thick  darkness."  There  we  find  the  God 
whom  we  are  not  afraid  to  think  of,  and  to  hold 
fellowship  with,  and  who,  to  all  the  varied  attri- 
butes of  greatness,  adds  those  varied  manifestations 
of  goodness  which  command  our  submission,  our 
filial  love,  our  trusting  confidence.  No  earthly  joy 
and  honor,  no  patronage  of  the  rich  and  learned, 
no  crowded  assemblies,  no  arm  of  flesh,  no  tokens 
of  public  favor,  can  be  to  us  instead  of  his  presence 
and  glory.  What  are  all  the  formality  and  gor- 
geousness  of  worship,  if  He  wlio  is  a  Spirit  be  not 
here  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ?  What  is 
all  human  teaching,  with  its  well  digested  thoughts 
and  charms  of  utterance,  if  God's  own  lips  speak 
not,  and  the  soft  whispers  of  his  love  breathe  not  ? 
Say  to  us,  thou  God  of  Zion,  "  My  presence  shall 
go  with  thee,  and  I  will  give  thee  rest!"  We 
would  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord,  as  we  have 
seen  it  in  the  sanctuary.  Our  prosperity  depends 
upon  the  bright  visions  of  his  glory.  O  that  he 
would  walk  amid  the  golden  candlesticks,  and 
make  this  place  of  his  feet  glorious  !  The  inward 
tokens  of  his  presence  are  the  best  pledge  that  we 
shall  enjoy  the  outward  tokens  of  his  favor.  Give 
4 


50  BEICK   CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

US  these,  and  there  will  not  be  wanting  those  who 
will  say,  "  We  will  go  with  you,  for  we  have  heard 
the  Lord  is  with  you." 

II.  We  reverence  the  sanctuary,  in  the  second 

place,  FOR   ITS    MORAL    POWER. 

Men  are  apostate  and  sinful.  Sin  has  impover- 
ished them.  They  have  wants  which  nothing  but 
unearthly  resources  can  supply,  "  having  no  hope 
and  without  God  in  the  world."  Iniquity  is  their 
ruin.  So  long  as  iniquity  rankles  in  their  bosoms, 
it  proves  the  sharpened  tooth  of  the  undying 
worm ;  the  fires  of  perdition  cannot  be  quenched, 
so  long  as  men  remain  the  victims  of  wickedness. 

It  is  no  marvel,  therefore,  that  the  most  compre- 
hensive purpose  of  the  divine  mind  terminates  in 
securing  and  perpetuating  the  interests  of  holiness. 
His  works,  his  providence,  together  with  the  rich 
and  varied  manifestations  of  his  great  and  glorious 
nature,  ever  have  had  for  their  object  the  great  in- 
terests of  holiness  in  the  world  in  which  we  dwell. 
The  mio^htiest  movement  his  wisdom  and  love  ever 
dictated  aims  at  here  constructing  a  highway  that 
shall  be  called  "  the  way  of  holiness."  Holiness  is 
the  ultimate  good.  There  is  nothing  better  that 
God  seeks  after,  and  nothing  else  he  has  made  such 
sacrifices  to  secure. 

In  the  accomplishment  of  this  great  work  the 
sanctuary  has  a  part  to  perform,  which  can  be  per- 
formed by  no  other  instrumentality.     Where  no 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  51 

vision  is,  the  people  perish.  Men  rarely  become 
moral,  never  religious,  dissociated  and  severed  from 
the  house  of  God.  If  the  sanctuary  has  an  inter- 
est in  the  happiness  of  men,  it  is  a  happiness  that 
is  inseparable  from  a  holy  and  virtuous  character. 
What  it  most  seeks  to  promote  is  a  character  that 
God  loves,  a  character  that  is  progressively  like  his 
own,  a  character  cherished  by  all  that  is  binding 
in  the  obligations  of  law,  all  that  is  rich  in  the 
plenitude  of  grace,  all  that  is  tender  in  the  sym- 
pathies of  our  great  High  Priest,  and  all  that  is 
stimulating  in  those  "  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises  "  whereby  his  people  are  made  partakers 
of  the  divine  nature.  Do  you  ask  how  the  sanc- 
tuary effects  this  great  object  ?  we  answer,  By  the 
power  of  truth,  the  power  of  prayer,  and  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Here  is  the  truth  of  God^  pre- 
senting the  thoughts  and  affections  of  the  infinite 
to  the  finite,  and  opening  that  exhaustless  store- 
house of  motives  so  woudrously  suited  to  man's 
intellectual,  moral,  and  sensitive  nature.  Here  is 
tlie  Spirit  of  all  grace^  without  which  truth  is  pow- 
erless, and  with  which  it  receives  the  welcome  of 
the  warm  affections,  is  enthroned  in  the  chambers 
of  the  inner  man,  and  sanctifies  and  saves.  Here, 
too,  is  that  heaven-ordained  spirit  of  grace  and 
mpplication^  setting  in  motion  all  other  instruments 
and  agencies,  and  demonstrating  man's  impotence, 
and  God's  faithfulness  as  a  prayer-hearing  God. 


52  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL, 

We  may  not  speak  loosely  when  we  speak  of 
this  moral  influence  of  the  sanctuary.  It  is  not 
the  mere  form  of  godliness  it  would  secure,  but  the 
power ;  it  is  not  names,  but  things  ;  it  is  not  the 
shadow,  but  the  substance.  Pagan  ablutions,  and 
papal  crosses  and  sprinklings,  are  not  piety.  The 
ostentation  of  religious  observances,  and  the  decen- 
cies of  a  visible  morality,  are  sometimes  found 
among  the  scoffers  at  all  heart-religion.  A  Chris- 
tian creed  and  a  Christian  profession  are  not  un- 
known among  those  who  are  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins.  Inspect  the  fruits  of  the  sanctuary,  and  it 
will  be  found  that  it  is  the  rain  of  heaven  and  the 
Sun  of  righteousness  by  which  they  are  matured, 
and  the  hand  of  the  sanctifier  that  gathers  them. 
Holiness  has  taken  the  place  of  sin,  gladness  the 
the  place  of  sorrow,  light  of  darkness,  hope  of 
despair,  life  of  death,  where  the  sanctuary  is  clothed 
with  power.  Nor  do  we  hesitate  to  say  that, 
various  as  are  the  means  by  which  the  world  is 
converted  to  God,  and  beautifully  cooperative  as 
they  are,  the  pivot  on  which  the  machinery  rests, 
the  main  shaft  that  impels  it,  its  motive  power,  is 
the  fire  on  God's  altars.  To  this  hallowed  spot  the 
church  militant  and  the  church  triumphant  look 
with  hope,  and  here  from  under  the  sanctuary  the 
waters  issue  that  give  life  to  the  world.  The  very 
walls  of  the  sanctuary  are  monitors,  and  the  en- 
trance in  at  the  doors  reads  the  lesson,  "  This  is  the 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  63 

way,  walk  ye  in  it."  There  is  no  safer  path,  nor  is 
is  there  a  more  effective  repulse  to  the  Tempter 
than  to  say  to  him,  /  am  going  to  tlie  house  of 
God. 

I  love  to  look  at  the  sanctuary  in  the  retired  vil- 
lage or  the  crowded  city ;  in  the  bold  foreground, 
or  the  retreating  shadows  of  the  distant  landscape. 
It  is  God's  vineyard,  where  "  the  vine  flourishes,  and 
the  tender  grape  appears,"  while  around  its  conse- 
crated walls  is  "  God's  acre,"  where  the  plants  of 
righteousness,  thickly  set  and  deep,  are  gathering 
their  immortal  bloom.  The  beauties  of  holiness 
and  the  glories  of  immortality  are  there.  Yes,  I 
love  to  look  at  such  a  scene,  and  to  say  when  I  look 
at  it,  "  How  goodly  are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob,  and  thy 
tabernacles,  O  Israel ;  as  valleys  are  they  spread 
forth,  as  gardens  by  the  river's  side,  as  lignaloes 
which  the  Lord  hath  planted,  and  as  cedar  trees 
beside  the  waters  ? "  The  dewy  eve,  the  blushing 
morn,  fade  in  comparison  with  this  garden  of  God, 
sparkling  in  the  beauties  of  holiness,  and  fragrant 
with  its  sweet  perfume.  Bashan  languish eth,  and 
the  flower  of  Lebanon  languisheth :  holiness  never 
withers ;  its  leaf  is  green  even  in  the  year  of  drought. 
Glorious  beyond  all  but  the  foretelling  pen  of 
prophecy,  are  the  bright  destinies  of  the  sanctuary : 
glorious  to  feel  and  enjoy,  glorious  to  behold^  and, 
in  seasons  of  darkness  and  despondency,  glorious  to 
look  for.     When  that  hope  is  realized,  then  will 


54  BltlCK  CHUKCH   MEMORIAL. 

be  the.  jubilee  of  tlie  world.  The  ingathering  of 
the  great  harvest  year  shall  have  come,  when  the 
"  plowman  shall  overtake  the  reaper,  and  the  tread- 
er  of  grapes  him  that  soweth  seed,  and  the  moun- 
tains drop  down  sweet  wine,  and  all  the  hills  do 
melt."  Intimately  connected  with  these  thoughts, 
III.  There  is  a  third  reason  for  this  religious 
reverence  for  the  sanctuary,  and  that  is  its  active 

BENEVOLEISrCE. 

The  church  of  God,  from  its  origin  and  organ- 
ization, from  the  laws  by  which  it  is  governed,  and 
the  profession  and  character  of  its  members,  from 
the  peculiar  privileges  it  enjoys  and  the  means  of 
its  advancement,  from  its  opportunities  for  useful- 
ness, and  the  promised  favor  of  its  Great  Head, 
possesses  notoriety  and  preeminence.  She  is  like 
a  city  set  on  a  hill,  which  cannot  be  hid.  While 
generation  after  generation  has  passed  away,  and 
thrones  and  dynasties  have  vanished,  and  proud 
institutions  have  crumbled  to  the  dust,  and  every 
ancient  work  of  man  is  lost,  this  great  work  of  God 
remains — a  living  community  in  a  dying  world,  a 
spiritual  community,  youthful  and  vigorous,  where 
all  things  else  grow  old  and  decay. 

God's  sanctuary  is  everywhere  invested  with  this 
commanding  position,  in  order  to  impose  upon  it 
the  obligations  of  active  service  :  "  To  whom  much 
is  given,  of  him  also  much  shall  be  required."  Its 
mission  is  to  "  do  good  and  communicate."     It  is 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  66 

not  erected  to  be  looked  at  and  admired,  but  to 
speak  to  us,  to  act  upon  us.  Its  province  and  its 
office  are  to  send  out  its  sympathies  to  the  ignorant, 
and  enlighten  them ;  the  wandering,  and  reclaim 
them ;  the  lost,  and  save  them.  We  hold  of  very- 
little  account  that  cold  and  dead  orthodoxy  which 
paralyzes  effort.  The  professed  Christian,  who  folds 
his  hands  and  congratulates  himself  that  he  has 
nothina:  to  do  for  a  world  that  lieth  in  wicked- 
ness,  because  helieving  is  his  business,  and  not 
worMng^  is  in  nothing  better  than  the  slothful 
servant.  An  enlightened  belief  in  the  doctrines  of 
grace,  so  far  from  diminishing  Christian  diligence, 
impels  to  it  by  superadded  obligations  and  motives. 
Our  obligations  to  holiness  and  to  every  form 
of  active  service,  are  just  as  real  and  just  as  bind- 
ing as  they  would  have  been  had  the  Saviour 
never  fulfilled  all  righteousness ;  just  as  real  and 
just  as  binding  as  they  would  have  been  had  we 
been  justified  by  the  deeds  of  the  law.  If  salvation 
is  of  grace,  it  is  unto  works ;  we  are  fellow-workers 
with  God.  He  works  in  us  that  we  may  work. 
We  look  to  him  as  though  he  did  all,  and  we  labor 
as  though  all  the  work  were  our  own.  We  have 
this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  excellency 
of  the  power  may  be  all  of  God  and  not  of  us  ;  yet 
do  "  we  strive  mightily,  according  to  the  grace  that 
worketh  in  us  mightily."  Nor  is  this  cooperation 
the  less  obvious  and  delightful  because  our  agency 


56  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

is  human  and  divine.  It  is  "  the  worm  Jacob"  that 
is  to  "  thresh  the  mountains,  and  beat  them  small, 
and  make  the  hills  as  chaff." 

Such  is  the  creed  of  the  sanctuary,  and  with  this 
it  stands  in  the  midst  of  a  perishing  world.  None 
are  overlooked  by  it,  old  or  young,  far  off  or  near. 
Emphatically  are  the  young  its  charge,  because 
God  has  committed  them  to  it ;  it  is  the  sanctuary 
that  modifies  and  moulds  their  character.  It  has 
a  larger  heart,  too,  and  a  more  enlarged  vision  than 
this.  It  looks  over  this  sin-struck  earth,  and  cares 
for  the  heathen  at  home  and  the  heathen  abroad. 
Its  thoughts,  its  counsels,  its  prayers,  its  gifts,  its 
deeds  of  self-denial  and  endurance,  form  no  incon- 
siderable part  of  the  history  of  the  church  of  God. 

You  wonder,  perhaps,  that  I  utter  such  obvious 
truths  ;  not  only  would  I  utter,  but  enforce  them. 
If  God  requires  it  of  his  ministers  that  they  be 
working  men,  he  also  requires  it  of  his  churches 
that  they  be  working  churches.  What  kind  of  a 
light  would  that  be  that  does  not  shine,  or  what 
sort  of  a  church  is  that  which  has  no  forthgoing 
activity?  What  is  Christianity  without  the  be- 
nevolent deeds  which  Christianity  produces  ?  We 
do  not  ask  what  the  sanctuary  is^  so  much  as  what 
the  sanctuary  does.  There  may  be  a  dead  sanctuary, 
as  well  as  a  dead  faith.  A  dead  sanctuary  ?  what 
is  it?  There  is  no  heart  there,  and  no  active  pul- 
sations ;  it  is  no  living  temple  ;  it  is  Death  I     If  it 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  67 

acts  not,  it  lives  not ;  its  sublimest  devotions  are 
but  sounding  brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal,  without 
its  active  character.  If  this  edifice  is  worthy  the 
place  it  occupies,  and  the  cause  to  which  we  devote 
it,  we  must  have  an  honest  and  an  earnest  Chris- 
tianity, permeated  with  more  of  the  popular  ele- 
ment, employing  more  heads,  more  hearts,  and  more 
hands.  We  must  have  a  willing  people,  and  lay 
under  contribution  every  tribe,  every  family,  every 
man.  This  is  what  sanctuaries  are  built  for.  They 
are  not  built  for  the  minister,  but  for  the  people. 
The  minister  is  nor  the  church,  nor  is  the  pulpit  the 
sanctuary.  It  is  the  solitude  of  his  toil  that  is  very 
apt  to  dishearten  even  the  most  courageous  laborer. 
The  difference  between  a  ministry  standing  alone 
and  a  ministry  upheld  and  encouraged  by  the  favor 
and  cooperation  of  an  effective  church,  cannot  be 
known  this  side  eternity.  Negligence  is  the  sin  of 
Christians,  and  it  is  no  small  sin.  The  want  of  well- 
doing is  one  of  the  devil's  forms  of  evil-doing. 
The  Saviour's  maxim  was,  "I  must  worh?''  I  must 
"  work  the  work  of  him  that  sent  me  while  it  is 
day ;  the  night  cometh,  in  which  no  man  can  work." 
We  cannot  prolong  the  day  of  labor  an  hour.  Time 
does  not  wait  for  our  indecision,  nor  death  for  our 
delay.  It  would  be  a  lamentable  narrative  here- 
after to  be  told,  that  the  generation  which  is  now 
passing  through  this  house  of  God  has  left  no  lumi- 
nous track  behind  it. 


58  BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

Nor  let  it  be  thought  that  we  derogate  frora  the 
dignity  and  sacredness  of  our  subject,  when  we 
remark — 

IV.  In  the  fourth  place,  that  the  sanctuary  is  dis- 
tinguished for  its   C0NSEEVATI\TE  PKINCIPLES. 

It  is  no  enemy  to  reform  and  progress  ;  yet  is  it 
no  part  of  its  principles  or  its  policy  to  "  do  evil 
that  good  may  come."  It  hails  every  aggressive 
movement  on  the  kingdom  of  darkness ;  yet  it  is 
not  heedless  of  consequences.  Reform  and  progress 
are  its  great  object ;  yet  it  has  no  organ  of  destruc- 
tiveness.  While  it  is  not  blind  to  existing  evils,  it 
dreads  the  evils  of  premature  reform.  So  long  as  it 
acts  in  its  true  character,  its  aim  is  to  make  the 
world  wiser,  better,  and  happier ;  nor  will  its  work 
be  accomplished  until  "  the  Lord  God  shall  cause 
righteousness  and  praise  to  spring  forth  before  all 
nations."  Yet  it  does  not  run  riot,  even  in  advanc- 
ing the  right  and  eradicating  the  wrong,  lest  by 
ill-timed  and  unhallowed  zeal  it  should  lose  more 
than  it  would  gain. 

If  the  world  in  which  we  dwell  is  so  impregnate 
with  wickedness  that  it  cannot  endure  the  teachings 
of  heavenly  wisdom  without  secret  hostility  or  open 
turbulence,  we  may  not  forget  that  the  bitternesSj 
the  turmoil,  the  angry  invective  and  strife  of  the 
world,  belong  not  to  the  house  of  God.  It  is  no 
friend  to  rancor  and  bitterness,  even  in  a  good 
cause.     We  accord  to  it,  nay,  we  claim  for  it,  its 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  69 

controversy  with  evil;  and  it  is  a  controversy 
which  is  uncompromising.  But  we  see  not  why  it 
may  not  breast  itself  in  the  very  front  of  the  battle, 
without  "  scattering  firebrands,  arrows,  and  death." 
It  is  not  the  fiery  meteor,  but  rather  is  it  like  the 
moon,  wading  in  her  brightness  through  a  night 
of  storms.  Embarrassing,  obscuring  clouds  it  may 
look  for,  but  it  shines  by  its  own  light,  pure  and 
white,  though  making  its  way  through  Egyptian 
darkness.  It  is  no  thunder-cloud,  filling  the  hearts 
of  men  with  fear ;  nor,  when  its  seals  are  opened, 
do  the  stars  of  heaven  fall  to  the  earth  as  a  fig-tree 
casteth  her  untimely  figs.  No,  no !  Soft  and  gen- 
tle breezes  blow  from  Mount  Zion ;  the  Sun  of 
righteousness  lingers  upon  its  summit,  and  bright 
visions  open  upon  the  vale  below. 

The  longer  I  live,  the  more  I  am  convinced  that 
this  is  one  of  the  great  characteristics  of  the  sanc- 
tuary. It  was  not  the  earthquake,  nor  the  strong 
wind,  nor  the  fire,  that  made  the  prophet  wrap  his 
face  in  his  mantle,  but  the  still,  small  voice. 

We  forget  our  oflace  when  we  needlessly  ignite 
and  inflame  the  worst  passions  of  the  human  heart, 
and  strike  blow  after  blow  upon  the  foundations 
of  public  tranquillity.  The  great  statute-book  of 
the  sanctuary  is  a  cautious  instructor,  enforcing  its 
lessons  with  "  the  meekness  of  wisdom."  There  is 
much  that  it  teaches,  and  some  truth  which  it  does 
not  teach ;  wisely  leaving  the  great  principles  it 


60  BKICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

inculcates,  like  the  leaven  hid  in  three  measures  of 
meal,  to  their  quiet  and  progressive  power.  If  the 
Apostle  Paul  could  have  had  the  private  ear  of 
Nero,  I  have  no  doubt  he  would  have  told  him 
truths  which  the  Spirit  of  God  would  not  allow 
him  publicly  to  declare  to  the  Christians  at  Kome. 
His  object  was,  not  to  agitate  and  revolutionize, 
but  to  regenerate  and  reform.  Sudden  changes 
in  the  polity  and  affairs  of  the  world  the  sanctuary 
does  not  look  for.  It  aims,  not  so  much  at  rudely 
undermining  old  institutions,  and  demolishing  old 
landmarks,  as  at  leaving  them  silently  and  grad- 
ually to  crumble  and  wither  under  the  subduing 
power  of  truth  and  love.  A  few  wild  and  unsea- 
sonable blasts  of  the  trumpet  may  produce  a  storm 
which  even  the  "  Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  a  thou- 
sand times  repeated,  cannot  assuage.  There  is  no 
such  reforming  power  as  the  cross  of  Christ.  And 
the  beauty  of  the  reform  is,  that  it  is  accomplished 
without  doing  any  harm.  When  the  sanctuary 
concentrates  the  energy  of  its  intellect,  the  ardor 
of  its  emotions,  and  its  fiery  zeal,  in  a  prolonged 
crusade  against  some  one  social  evil,  it  is  very  apt 
to  lose  sight  of  its  appropriate  work,  to  exhaust  its 
vigor  in  a  foreign  service,  and,  in  the  end  of  its  ec- 
centric course,  take  up  the  lamentation,  "They 
made  me  keeper  of  the  vineyards,  but  my  own 
vineyard  have  I  not  kept." 

Our  own  land  stands  first  and  foremost  of  aU 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  61 

lands  in  the  unshackled  influence  of  the  sanctuary. 
For  his  religious  principles  no  man  is  here  account- 
able but  to  his  Maker.  The  church  has  no  jeal- 
ousy of  the  state,  and  the  state  has  no  jealousy  of 
the  church.  We  have  no  inmingling  of  the  cross 
and  the  clay.  There  is  no  ecclesiastical  domina- 
tion to  dictate  the  measures  of  the  government, 
and  "  no  Star  Chamber  to  trample  the  rights  of 
conscience  under  the  heel  of  arbitrary  power." 
Our  obligations,  therefore,  as  American  ckurclies^ 
stand  abreast  with  our  high  privileges.  In  a  land 
where  the  people  influence  the  government,  rather 
than  the  government  the  people;  where  public 
opinion  originates  the  laws;  where  the  church  can 
prosper  without  the  state,  better  than  the  state 
without  the  church ;  and  where  the  religion  of  the 
gospel  stands  confessed  as  the  only  bulwark  of  na- 
tional security,  the  sanctuary  has  obligations  of  no 
ordinary  kind.  Our  free  institutions  do  not  ad- 
here to  our  soil  or  climate,  nor  do  our  rich  prairies 
nourish  them,  nor  are  they  imbedded  in  our  moun- 
tains ;  they  rest  on  the  influence  of  the  sanctuary. 
Selfish  politicians,  noisy  patriots,  and  profligate 
courtiers,  are  not  for  the  state  to  lean  upon.  Our 
prosperity,  our  union,  is  inseparable  from  our 
Christian  character.  The  severe  schooling  and 
steady  habits  of  our  fathers  laid  the  foundation  of 
our  greatness,  and  it  has  thus  far  been  protected 
and  sustained  by  the  laws  of  that  kingdom  which 


62  BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

is  not  of  tliis  world.  What  the  future  will  be,  we 
know  not ;  if  we  have  fears,  it  is  because  we  have 
fears  for  the  influence  of  the  sanctuary ;  and  if  we 
have  more  and  stronger  hopes  than  fears,  it  is  be- 
cause the  sanctuary  is  his  abode  who  "  ruleth  the 
raging  of  the  sea,  and  stilleth  the  tumult  of  the 
people."  Mercurial  and  fiery  spirits  may  find  a 
place  within  its  walls,  and  threatening  voices  and 
mighty  thunderings  may  agitate  it ;  but  there  are 
words  of  peace  above  the  howlings  of  the  storm. 
If  a  bright  horizon  is  yet  to  open  upon  us;  if 
"  young  America,"  with  her  headstrong  impulsive- 
ness, is  preserved  from  the  turbulence  of  anarchy ; 
if,  in  the  murky  atmosphere  that  now  and  then 
envelops  us,  and  if,  amid  the  hoarse  and  sharp 
rumbling  of  the  cavern  beneath  us,  we  avoid  or 
survive  the  earthquake,  it  will  be  because  "  knowl- 
edge, with  strength  of  salvation,  is  the  stability  of 
our  times." 

If  it  so  happens  that  we  live  in  an  age  when 
these  thoughts  are  unwelcome,  or  are  looked  upon 
with  suspicion,  or  will  be  misinterpreted  and 
abused,  the  more  is  the  pity,  and  the  more  is  the 
need  of  them.  Well  assured  am  I  that  the  time 
wiU  come  when  they  will  receive  a  hearty  response 
from  all  right-hearted  men,  and  that  experience 
will  show  that  "  wisdom  is  justified  of  her  chil- 
dren." We  ask  for  this  house  of  God  that  it  may 
be  baptized  with  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  and  long  re- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  63 

main  as  God's  witness  to  whatsoever  tilings  are  love- 
ly, whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever 
things  are  of  good  report.  Should  the  time  ever 
come  when  it  ceases  to  be  the  reprover  of  wicked- 
ness, and  at  the  same  time  the  patron  of  good  or- 
der, some  weeping  prophet  may  survey  its  ruins 
and  say,  "  How  is  the  gold  become  dim,  and  the 
most  fine  gold  changed  ! "  Give  us  this  spiritual, 
this  conservative  character,  and  our  "walls  will  be 
salvation  and  our  gates  praise." 

V.  We  reverence  the  sanctuary,  in  the  last  place, 

for  ITS  SOCIAL  AND  FRATERNAL  CHARACTER. 

There  is  but  one  true  religion  in  the  universe. 
The  religion  of  heaven  and  the  religion  of  earth, 
varying  as  they  do  in  measure,  are  in  their  nature 
essentially  the  same. 

The  sanctuary  is  the  house  of  prayer  for  all 
'people.  It  is  the  symbol  of  man's  brotherhood, 
and  stands  forth  as  the  sacred  asylum  oi fallen  hu- 
manity. So  far  from  being  appointed  for  one 
nation,  one  clime,  one  class,  or  color,  it  recognizes 
no  distinction  of  names  or  persons,  and  no  cove- 
nant of  peculiarity.  Of  all  places  in  the  world, 
it  is  the  place  where  Jew  and  Gentile,  rich  and 
poor,  bond  and  free,  wise  and  unwise,  seamen  and 
landsmen,  the  stranger  and  the  home-born,  are  re- 
garded with  a  Christian  impartiality.  And  why 
should  it  not  be  so?     They  are  alike  the  offf<pi*ing 


64:  BRICK  CHUECH  MEMORIAL. 

of  the  same  Almiglity  Parent ;  invested  with  the 
same  intelligent  and  immortal  existence ;  subjects 
of  the  same  moral  government ;  equally  the  heirs 
of  sin  and  the  curse,  and  the  offered  salvation; 
all  born  to  trouble,  as  the  sparks  fly  upward ;  all 
destined  to  lie  down  in  the  grave,  to  stand  at  the 
bar  of  the  final  judge,  and,  as  they  employ  this 
day  of  grace,  to  be  at  last  associated  in  the  same 
blessed  heaven,  or  in  the  same  awful  hell. 

All  have  a  common  interest,  therefore,  in  the 
house  of  God.  Attractive  it  may  be  to  the  rich, 
but  never  ought  to  be  repulsive  to  the  poor.  One  of 
its  peculiarities  is,  that "  the  rich  and  the  poor  meet 
together"  at  its  altars.  It  speaks  to  all:  to  the 
peasant  in  his  hut,  and  to  the  king  on  his  throne ; 
to  the  saint  in  his  closet,  and  to  the  criminal  in  his 
dungeon ;  to  the  children  of  want  and  woe  every- 
where. It  is  the  great  leveller ;  not  by  obliterat- 
ing all  human  distinctions,  but  by  making  a  dis- 
tinction that  absorbs  them  all ;  not  by  depressing 
the  high,  but  by  elevating  the  low,  and  raising 
both  to  the  dignity  of  "  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
the  Lord  God  Amighty." 

Man  is  a  social  being ;  his  religious  privileges, 
and  obligations,  and  hopes,  are  intimately  inwoven 
with  this  great  element  of  his  nature.  Most  beau- 
tifully and  wonderfully  are  the  social  relations 
made  subservient  to  his  immortality.  Christian 
churches  are  not  more  certainly  the  nurseries  of 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  65 

the  church  in  heaven,  than  Christian  families  are 
the  nurseries  of  the  church  on  earth.  If  you  sur- 
vey the  lands  where  God's  altars  are  thrown  down, 
or  have  never  been  erected,  you  will  be  apt  to 
find  them  lands  where  the  social  and  domestic  ties 
are  sacrificed  to  those  that  are  more  public ;  where 
the  endearments  of  private  life  are  usurped  by  a 
proud  ambition,  and  the  allurements  to  personal 
piety  are  lost  in  the  clamor  and  bustle  of  the 
world.  "  Come,  thou  and  all  thy  Iwii-se^  into  the 
ark ; "  this  is  the  voice  which  issues  from  the  sanc- 
tuary of  God.  Our  attachments  to  the  sanctuary 
may  well  be  expressive  'of  our  attachment  to  the 
worship  and  the  God  of  our  fathers ;  and  well  may 
they  be  strengthened  by  the  sweet  memories  of 
the  domestic  circle.  I  would  not  part  with  these 
sacred  reminiscences.  Oh !  how  sweetly  they 
sometimes  come  back  upon  us  in  the  days  of  pen- 
siveness  and  grief;  and  when  we  stand  in  silence 
over  the  honored  grave  of  the  departed;  and 
where,  amid  the  many  bonds  that  united  us,  none 
is  more  valued  than  that  which  bound  us  to  the 
house  of  God.  We  honor  the  solitary  chamber 
where  grief  is  bathed  in  tears,  and  the  mourner 
takes  refuge  by  himself  in  the  bosom  of  eternal 
love  ;  but  it  is  not  as  when  assembled  Israel,  in  the 
day  of  their  rebuke,  bowed  together  in  heaviness 
at  the  evening  sacrifice.  We  sympathize  with  the 
publican  when  he  went  up  alone  to  the  temple  to 
5 


66  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

pray ;  but  it  is  a  most  cheering  scene  to  look  at, 
which  the  Psalmist  speaks  of,  when  he  says,  "  We 
took  sweet  counsel  together,  and  went  to  the  house 
of  God  in  company."  There  is  beauty  and  forth- 
going  praise  in  the  lonely  star  that  twinkles  in  the 
retiring  cloud ;  but  it  falls  short  of  the  beauty  of 
the  spangled  heavens,  nor  is  it  the  adoring  anthem 
when  "  the  morning  stars  sang  together^  and  oil  the 
sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy." 

And  may  we  not  extend  these  thoughts  to  the 
great  brotherhood  of  churches  of  every  name? 
Christian  men  are  Christian  men  everywhere. 
Though  they  have  been  dispersed  through  differ- 
ent ages  of  time,  and  are  now  dispersed  through 
different  sections  of  the  church  of  God,  they  are 
the  same  Christian  men  everywhere.  Though 
they  differ  in  their  intellectual  endowments  and 
acquisitions,  and  even  in  their  spiritual  character, 
joys,  and  influences,  they  are  still  good  and  Chris- 
tian men.  Like  scattered  rays  of  light  and  love, 
they  all  radiate  from  God's  sanctuary.  Their  re- 
ligion is  one  ;  they  themselves  are  constituent  parts 
of  the  one  body  of  which  Christ  is  the  head ;  one 
temple,  of  which  he  is  the  Deity ;  one  sphere,  of 
which  he  is  the  Sun. 

Whence,  then,  this  moral  chaos  ?  Why  this 
scattering  of  the  one  fold  of  the  great  Shepherd  ? 
Whence  is  it  that  the  old  faith  and  the  old  char- 
ity are  separated  by  almost  impassable  barriers  ? 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  67 

Why  this  "  party-colored  blazonry,"  and  this  "  cross 
firing  of  the  hosts  marehalled  under  the  Captain 
of  our  salvation  ?  We  plead  for  God's  sanctuary ; 
and,  on  its  behalf,  we  ask  for  what  we  have  ever 
given,  and  hold  ourselves  ready  to  give — the  in- 
terchanged tokens  of  love  and  influence,  which  the 
Bible  not  only  justifies  but  demands.  That  Book 
of  God  has  its  standard  of  church-fellowship,  and 
here  it  is :  "  Grace  be  with  all  them  that  love  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity  ! "  Here  it  is  still 
more  definitely :  "  In  Christ  Jesus  neither  circum- 
cision availeth  anything,  nor  uncircumcision,  but  a 
new  creature.  And  as  many  as  walk  according 
TO  THIS  RULE,  pcacc  be  on  them,  and  mercy  upon 
the  Israel  of  God !  "  Here  it  is  again,  in  the  words 
of  our  loving  Master  :  "  Father,  I  pray  that  they  aU 
may  he  one^  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in 
thee,  that  they  may  be  one  in  us,  that  the  world 
may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me ! "  Who  can 
stand  before  such  an  appeal  as  this?  Where  is 
now  tbe  stern  Anabaptist,  and  the  unyielding  pre- 
tender to  apostolic  succession,  and  the  sturdy 
champion  of  the  exclusive  divine  right  of  Presby- 
tery, and  the  devout  advocate  for  the  literal  ver- 
sion of  the  Psalms  of  David,  who  of  such  figments 
would  erect  a  wall  of  brass  around  the  sanctuary  ? 
We  have  no  desire  to  be  regarded  as  "  uncom- 
mon pretendere  to  charity."  Ye  are  our  witnesses 
that  we  are  not  slow  in  "  contending  earnestly  for 


68  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints."  Yet  we 
have  no  war,  except  with  error  and  sin  ;  and  where 
the  error  is  radical  to  the  Christian  system,  or  es- 
sential to  the  Christian  character,  it  is  a  war  of  ex- 
termination. But  we  have  long  since  learned  that 
conformity  is  not  essential  to  unity,  nor  to  Chris- 
tian fellowship.  "The  kingdom  of  God  is  not 
meat  and  drink,  but  righteousness,  and  peace,  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  more  the  faith  and 
fellowship  of  Christ  prevail,  the  more  will  they 
lead  his  followers  to  fellowship  with  each  other. 
The  sanctuary  calls  upon  us  to  receive  and  acknowl- 
edge all  Christians,  of  every  name,  who  are  Chris- 
tians indeed.  Oh  !  we  are  sick  at  heart  of  this  dis- 
membered body  of  Christ !  Nor  do  we  mean  in 
this  matter  to  be  fettered  by  sectarian  intolerance, 
or  awed  by  the  authority  of  men.  Blessed  be 
God,  the  time  is  coming  when  the  "watchmen 
shall  see  eye  to  eye,  and  lift  up  their  voice  togeth- 
er, and  with  the  voice  together  shall  they  sing." 
We  look  for  such  a  day,  and  on  this  side  the  heav- 
enly world.  And  what  a  beautiful  expression  of 
the  object  and  design  of  the  sanctuary  and  of  the 
spirit  of  heaven  !  The  sanctuary  below  is  but  the 
vestibule  to  the  sanctuary  above.  We  would  not 
come  to  it,  feeling  that  we  are  dissociated  from 
any  one  of  the  families  of  the  redeemed,  any  more 
than  we  are  dissociated  from  "  the  house  not  made 
with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens."      There  the 


BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL.  69 

earthly  sanctuary  terminates  in  the  companionship 
of  "  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  and  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  God,  the 
Judge  of  all,  and  Jesus,  the  Mediator  of  the  new 
covenant." 

Such  is  God's  sanctuary.  Who  can  appreciate 
it  ? — its  object,  its  toil,  its  solicitudes  and  discour- 
agements, its  expectations  and  successes,  its  hon- 
oi-s  and  rewards ;  what  is  there  on  the  earth  to 
be  compared  with  these  ?  In  its  moral  power  and 
permanent  influence  it  stands  preeminent  above  the 
forum,  above  the  senate-house,  above  the  battle-field, 
and  above  the  press.  Thought  looks  to  it  for  in- 
struction ;  the  wounded  conscience  looks  to  it  as  its 
refuge,  and  the  burdened  heart  for  its  repose.  Lisp- 
ing childhood  looks  to  it,  and  buoyant  youth,  and  vig- 
orous manhood,  and  hoaiy  age.  Christianity  looks 
to  it  as  its  defender,  and  as  the  heaven-designated 
herald  of  its  glad  tidings.  The  history  of  the  sanc- 
tuary would  be  the  history  of  Christianity  in  all 
its  lights  and  shadows,  in  all  its  depression  and  tri 
umph,  in  all  its  conflicts  and  victories.  Nations 
live  or  die,  as  their  sanctuaries  rise  or  fall.  Woe 
to  the  land  that  is  not  the  land  of  the  Sabbath 
and  the  sanctuary  !  All  the  world  over,  with  the 
exception  of  those  temples  where  God  once  dwelt^ 
and  from  which  his  glory  is  departed,  an  intimate 
sympathy  will  be  found  to  exist  between  the  sanc- 
tuary and  the  best  interests  of  men.     If  Scotland, 


70  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

from  liaving  been  "  one  of  the  rudest,  one  of  the 
poorest,  one  of  the  most  turbulent  countries  in 
Europe,"  has  become  "  one  of  the  most  virtuous, 
one  of  the  most  highly  civilized,  one  of  the  most 
flourishing,  one  of  the  most  tranquil,"  it  is  because 
"  He  that  dwells  between  the  cherubim  there 
shines  forth." 

When  a  body  of  Puritans  in  the  North  of  Eng- 
land, and  after  them  a  body  of  the  "  Scotch-Irish," 
removed  to  this  western  wilderness,  in  order  to 
enjoy  liberty  of  conscience,  their  rallying-point 
was  the  house  of  God.  And  now,  like  a  wreath 
of  perennial  flowers,  everywhere  adorning  hill  and 
valley,  their  scattered  temples  are  inmingling  their 
hallowed  incense  with  the  winds  of  our  mountains 
and  the  spray  of  our  iron-bound  coast.  A  right- 
minded  foreigner  can  hardly  pass  through  the 
length  and  breadth  of  this  land  without  observing 
that  one  of  our  strong  peculiarities  is  a  religious 
reverence  for  God's  sanctuary.  What  citadels  of 
strength  are  these  unnumbered  Christian  temples, 
everywhere  lifting  their  spires  toward  heaven ! 
Should  ever  the  time  come  when  a  barbarous,  del- 
uge, like  that  which  inundated  the  fairest  portions 
of  Europe  during  the  middle  ages,  passes  over  this 
land,  among  its  first  and  most  ruthless  desolations 
would  be  found  a  desecrated  or  a  desolated  sanctuary. 

These  thoughts  give  interest  to  this  welcome 
hour.    While  the  tide  of  life  has  been  sweeping 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  71 

away  the  landmarks  of  the  past,  some  few  remain 
who  saw  our  ancient  sanctuary  in  its  glory,  and 
still  more  who  witnessed  its  decay.  Thanks  to 
God,  the  overflowing  waters  have  thus  far  been 
restrained  fi-om  invading  these  altars.  We  have 
lived  to  see  the  top  stone  of  this  edifice  laid,  and 
its  doors  open  to  us.  We  have  nothing  to  ask  for 
in  the  external  and  material  arrangements  of  this 
house.  It  is  not  a  gorgeous  edifice  ;  it  has  no  dec- 
orated walls  and  arches,  and  no  splendid  magnifi- 
cence. Yet  are  there  stability  and  comfort,  and 
tasteful  architecture,  which  do  honor  to  the  genius 
and  fidelity  of  those  employed  in  projecting,  erect- 
ing, and  embellishing  it.  '•''Strength  and  heauty 
are  in  his  sanctuary."  We  have  sufficient  interest 
and  sufficient  gratification  in  the  external  and  the 
material ;  God  grant  that  we  may  have  a  deeper 
feeling  for  the  internal  and  the  spiritual !  Why 
should  the  visible  captivate  us,  and  the  lust  of 
the  eye  and  the  pride  of  life  charm  our  hearts  to 
those  things  that  are  seen,  instead  of  attracting 
them  to  the  unseen  realities,  of  which  these  sym- 
bols, these  appearances,  are  only  the  shadow. 

The  sanctuary  is  more  than  ornamental  archi- 
tecture, and  harmonious  music,  and  external  wor- 
ship. We  look  above  and  across  the  visible,  to 
Him  who  is  invisible.  It  is  the  selected  spot 
where  the  Almighty  architect  forms  the  materials 
of  "the  living  temple,  built  up  with  lively  stones, 


72  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord,  an  habitation  of  God 
through  the  Spirit."  It  is  God's  house,  and  we 
come  to  dedicate  it  to  him.  And  there  is,  in  my 
humble  judgment,  no  superstition,  but  great  pro- 
priety and  truth  in  these  acts  of  dedication.  There 
is,  and  there  ought  to  be,  as  wide  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  house  of  God  and  all  other  places  of 
public  resort,  as  between  all  that  is  secular  and  all 
that  is  sacred.  The  one  is  a  select  and  consecrated 
territory ;  the  other  belongs  to  the  business  of  the 
world.  Secular  themes  and  secular  objects  have 
their  place,  but  that  place  is  not  the  sanctuary. 
From  our  hearts  we  dedicate  this  edifice  to  the 
God  of  heaven.  It  is  nothing  to  us  if  he  do  not 
occupy  it.  Stand  up,  all  ye  people,  and  before 
God,  angels,  and  men,  consecrate  it  to  his  worship 
and  honor,  to  whom  it  belongs ! — each  one  of  us 
humbly  looking  to  him,  that  he  would  fill  it  with 
his  great  glory.  Be  it  ever  sacred  to  him  by  whose 
name  it  is  called ! — sacred  to  his  mercy-seat  and 
his  praise ! — sacred  to  his  pure  gospel,  to  his  own 
ordinances,  to  the  fellowship  of  the  saints,  the  con- 
version of  men,  and  the  comfort  and  edification  of 
those  who  fear  God  and  love  his  Son.  Sacred 
place  !  "  Arise,  O  Lord  God,  thou  and  the  ark  of 
thy  strength !  Let  thy  priests  be  clothed  with 
righteousness;  and  let  thy  saints  shout  for  joy!" 
From  this  good  hour  let  this  house  be  devoted 
only  to  sacred  and  religious  uses.      Here  let  all 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  73 

that  is  sacred  be  put  in  motion,  and  all  that  is  sec- 
ular be  put  at  rest.  In  his  name,  to  whom  we 
have  thus  solemnly  dedicated  it,  we  say  to  you. 
Reverence  God's  sanctuary.  Prize  his  ordinances, 
and  teach  your  children  to  prize  them.  There  are 
fountains  of  mercy  here ;  a  river  the  streams  where- 
of make  glad  the  city  of  our  God,  the  holy  place  of 
the  tabernacles  of  the  Most  High.  Bend  over  this 
living  fountain  and  drink  to  the  full.  Lift  up  your 
hands  in  the  sanctuary  and  hless  the  Lord.  The 
Lord,  that  made  heaven  and  earth,  hless  tliee  out 
of  Zion. 

It  will  not  be  looked  for,  on  the  present  occasion, 
that  I  should  repeat  those  historical  notices  that 
were  given  in  the  last  discourse  that  was  delivered 
in  our  former  edifice.  It  is  natural  for  those  who 
are  in  an  advanced  period  of  life  to  look  forward ; 
Christianity  looks  forward  with  hope.  "  The  Brick 
Presbyterian  church  in  the  city  of  New  York" 
will  not,  we  trust,  prove  recreant  to  its  character 
nor  its  trust.  There  have  been  periods  when 
we  have  had  some  misgivings  as  to  the  course 
this  church  has  pursued;  yet,  upon  a  deliberate 
review  of  it,  it  is  our  welcome  conviction  that, 
under  the  divine  favor,  the  true  purpose  of  the 
sanctuary,  notwithstanding  all  our  imperfections, 
has  been  here,  in  some  good  measure,  accomplished. 
When  we  look  at  the  number  and  standing  of  those 
ministers  of  l^he  gospel  whom  its  prayers  and  its 


74  BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

bounty  have  sent  fortli  to  the  world;  when  we 
advert  to  the  part  it  has  taken  in  organizing  some, 
and  in  sustaining  other  institutions  for  the  spread 
of  the  gospel ;  when  we  think  of  the  multitudes  to 
whom  the  gospel  has  been  here  preached,  and  the 
multitudes  who  hail  from  this  church  as  their 
spiritual  birthplace;  when  we  recall  its  conflicts 
with  error  and  its  conservative  influence ;  when  we 
set  before  our  minds  the  two  generations  of  the 
Lord's  people  who  have  gone  from  us  to  the  upper 
sanctuary,  and  dwell  with  such  gi'atified  emotions 
upon  the  scenes  of  trial  through  which  they 
passed,  and  upon  their  peaceful  departure;  and 
when,  in  our  present  survey  of  this  people,  we 
count  so  few  among  this  adult  population  who 
have  not  named  the  name  of  Christ,  we  bow  our 
knees  in  humility  and  thankfulness  before  the  God 
and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that,  much 
as  we  have  to  deplore,  we  have  not  run  in  vain, 
neither  labored  in  vain ;  "  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace 
of  God  that  was  with  me." 

We  enter  upon  our  new  career  under  few  cir- 
cumstances of  discouragement,  and  many  of  bright 
anticipation.  We  are  at  a  sufficient  remove  from 
our  sister  churches  to  forbid  all  interference  or  ri- 
valship,  while  we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  population 
that  give  us  welcome,  and  bid  us  God  speed. 
With  no  ordinary  gratification,  also,  we  greet  the 
return  to  our  number  of  so  many  of  those  who,  be- 


BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL.  75 

cause  the  place  has  been  too  strait  for  us,  have  for 
a  short  season  been  the  adornment  of  other  and 
more  convenient  churches.  We  need  them,  and 
here,  we  trust,  they  will  once  more  find  themselves 
at  home. 

In  the  name  of  the  Lord,  therefore,  we  set  up 
our  bannei"s.  It  is  an  eventful  age  of  the  world  in 
which  our  enterprise  receives  this  new  impulse. 
They  are  cheering  scenes  we  look  upon,  as  from 
this  mount  of  vision  and  this  hour  of  hope  we  look 
down  on  the  ages  of  mercy  that  already  begin  to 
visit  our  guilty  world.  Even  now  is  the  "  earth 
helping  the  woman."  The  halls  of  science,  the  in- 
ventions of  art,  the  resources  of  commerce,  and, 
above  all  these,  the  facilities  of  international 
intercoui-se,  are  becoming  tributary  to  Him  in 
whom  all  nations  shall  be  blessed,  and  even  the 
battle  of  the  wan'ior  has  prepared  the  way  for  the 
Prince  of  Peace.  More  than  all,  the  ever-blessed 
and  adorable  Spirit  of  God  is  coming  forth  to  the 
bright  conquests  of  the  "  latter-day  glory."  The 
crisis  is  approaching,  and  startling  events  may  be 
looked  for  in  the  future  history  both  of  the  church 
and  the  world.  Nor  may  you  be  dismayed,  my 
brethren,  if  mercy  and  judgment  still  stand  abreast 
in  the  redemption  of  men.  If  the  spirit  that  now 
worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience  is  gone  up 
with  his  legions  on  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
earth,  it  is  but  to  herald  his  own  overthrow,  and 


Y6  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

be  the  precursor  of  "  quietness  and  assurance  for- 
ever." A  few  fleeting  centuries,  and  the  work  of 
the  sanctuary  will  be  accomplished,  and  the  church 
militant  enjoy  her  repose. 

I  have  before  made  the  remark,  that  I  did  not 
favor  the  removal  which  we  have  lived  to  witness, 
from  personal  considerations,  for  it  must  be  clear 
that  the  small  remnant  of  my  ministry  would  have 
been  less  precarious  and  less  toilsome  had  the  re- 
moval never  have  been  effected.  As  Israel  said  to 
Joseph,  I  now  say  to  you,  "  Behold,  I  die  /  but 
God  shall  be  '^vitli  youP  Yet  while  I  live,  I  ask 
no  greater  joy  than  to  preach  the  gospel  to  this 
people.  It  would  be  no  grief  of  heart  to  me  to 
die  on  the  harvest  field.  I  would  die  in  the  midst 
of  you,  and  hope  that  the  grandchildren  of  those 
whom  I  have  attended  to  their  graves,  will  give 
me  a  resting-place,  ever  quiet  and  "  Ever  Green," 
amid  their  fathers'  sepulchres,  and  where  so  many 
sheaves  have  been  gathered  in  fully  ripe  from  this 
field  of  labor.  Nor  have  I  anything  more  to  ask 
for  this  house,  than  that  the  God  of  Zion  would 
here  record  his  name,  and  that  among  the  glorious 
things  that  shall  be  spoken  of  this  city  of  our  God, 
it  may  be  said  that  "  this  and  that  man  was  born 
in  her,  and  that  the  Highest  himself  hath  estab- 
lished her."  May  we  not,  my  brethren,  this  day 
offer  the  prayer,  and  indeed  cherish  the  hope,  the 
confidence,  that  "the  glory  of  this  latter  house 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  77 

shall  be  greater  than  that  of  the  former  "  ?  Long 
may  this  sanctuary  stand  upon  this  holy  hill,  as 
God's  witness  to  the  favored  city  and  land  where 
we  dwell !  Here  may  successive  generations  begin 
their  everlasting  song,  and  your  living  and  dying 
prayer  and  mine  be,  "  Peace  be  within  thy  walls, 
and  prosperity  within  thy  palaces ! "  And  when 
the  last  trumpet  shall  shake  all  things  earthly,  may 
every  living  stone  of  this  spiritual  temple  bear 
yonder  immortal  inscription,  "Holiness  to  the 
LoED  ! "  How  sweet  the  thought  that,  worms  and 
sinners  as  we  are,  we  ourselves  may  then  exempli- 
fy truth,  "  Behold,  what  hath  God  wrought ! "  and 
in  that  far-off  land  where  the  Lord  is  the  light 
thereof,  and  the  Lamb  its  glory,  our  voices,  with 
those  of  the  loved  and  venerated  who  have  gone 
before  us,  shall  swell  the  chorus,  "Blessing,  and 
honor,  and  glory,  and  power  be  unto  Him  that 
sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  to  the  Lamb,  for- 
ever ! "    Amen ! 


REDEMPTION  GOD'S  GREATEST  WORK. 

A    DISCOURSE; 

DELIVERED  ON  THE  FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

ORDINATION  AND  HIS  INSTALLATION  AS  PASTOR  OP 

THE  BRICK  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  THE 

CITY  OF  NEW  YORK. 

BY  GARDINER  SPRING. 


In  submitting  this  discourse  to  the  public,  the  author  may  be  allowed 
to  say,  tltat  it  is  from  tlie  first  and  original  manuscript.  Tlie  transcript 
of  it,  pre[iared  with  care,  more  compact,  and  designed  for  tlie  press,  was 
consumed  by  fire  in  the  office  of  the  printer.  I  could  not  recollect  it, 
and  am  constrained  to  fall  back  upon  the  original  and  very  imperfect 
manuscript.  G,  S, 


REDEMPTION  GOD'S  GREATEST  WORK. 


"  That  I  may  plant  the  heavens,  and  lay  the  foundations  of  the  eaiib, 
and  say  unto  Zion,  Thou  art  my  people." — Isaiah  li.  16. 

I  nAVE  selected  this  text  as  the  subject  of  the 
present  discourse,  not  because  on  such  an  occasion 
I  shall  attempt  to  do  justice  to  it,  but  for  the  out- 
lines of  truth  it  furnishes  in  this  retrospect  of  my 
ministry  among  you. 

There  is  nothing  contingent  in  the  arrangements 
of  the  eternal  Mind.  The  God  only  wise  thought 
of  everything  beforehand:  all  was  comprised  in 
the  counsel  of  his  own  will.  It  was  a  far-reach- 
ing view  presented  to  the  prophet's  eye,  in  the 
beautiful  chapter  which  contains  the  text.  The  re- 
vealing Spirit  had  assured  him  that  the  "Lord 
shall  comfort  Zion,  and  make  her  wilderness 
like  Eden ; "  that  notwithstanding  the  hostility 
of  her  enemies,  she  need  not  "fear  the  reproach 
of  men,  neither  be  afraid  of  their  revilings:" 
and  that,  "  though  the  heavens  shall  vanish  like 
smoke,  and  the  earth  shall  wax  old  like  a  gar- 
ment, God's  righteousness  shall  be  forever,  and  his 
6 


82  BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

salvation  from  generation  to  generation."  At 
length,  summing  up  the  whole  series  of  promises 
in  her  complete  redemption,  and  bringing  these 
luminous  assurances  to  a  still  brighter  focus,  he 
forges  the  last  link  in  his  argument  by  the  declara- 
tion, "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  that  divided  the 
sea,  whose  waves  roared ;  Jehovah  of  hosts  is  his 
name.  And  I  have  put  my  words  in  thy  mouth, 
and  have  covered  thee  with  the  shadow  of  my 
hand,  that  I  may  plant  the  heavens,  and  lay 

THE   foundations    OF   THE    EARTH,    AND     SAY   UNTO 

ZioN,  Thou  art  my  people."  The  position  I  desire 
at  least,  and  shall  attempt  to  illustrate,  from  this 
comprehensive  declaration,  is,  that  The  work  of 
Redemption  is  God's  greatest  work. 

The  first  thought  which  illustrates  its  greatness 
is  the  spiritual  and  immortal  nature  of  its  sub- 
jects. 

The  Saviour  once  said,  "  What  shall  it  profit  a 
man,  if  he  gain  the  wliole  world^  and  lose  his  own 
soul  ?  "  Suns  and  planets  and  fixed  stars  are  like 
a  drop  of  a  bucket,  and  vanish  from  our  thoughts 
in  comparison  with  the  intellectual  faculties,  the 
moral  character,  and  the  deathless  destiny  of  man. 
All  that  constitutes  this  terraqueous  globe — all,  all 
are  bubbles,  atoms,  the  very  "vanity  of  vani- 
ties," compared  with  the  immortal  soul.  Yet  this 
is  it, — this  soul  of  man, — which  is  the  selected  sub- 
ject of  this  redemption. 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  83 

There  is  gradation  in  the  works  of  God.  The 
narrative  which  records  them  is  one  of  progress 
and  development,  from  unorganized  matter  to  the 
organic  forms  of  life  ;  from  the  vegetable  and  ani- 
mal to  the  intellectual ;  from  the  intellectual  to 
the  moral  and  immortal.  This  visible  and  exterior 
univei'se  is  a  work  by  itself,  but  not  for  itself; 
everywhere  indicating  the  divine  wisdom,  power, 
and  goodness.  But  with  all  their  magnificence 
and  beauty,  all  their  symmetry  and  organization, 
they  are  mere  masses  of  inert,  unconscious  matter. 
Wondrous  existences  are  they,  and  the  more  won- 
drous as  the  researches  of  science  make  them 
known  to  us  ;  yet  are  they  without  sensation,  with- 
out thought,  without  will  or  emotion,  without  the 
capacity  of  enjoyment,  without  enlargement  and  ex- 
pansion. Yonder  sun  and  moon,  those  planets  and 
that  milky  way,  and  all  beyond  them,  are  now 
what  they  always  were.  The  brightest  of  them 
all  has  no  immortality,  and  in  a  few  revolving 
centuries  will  wax  old  as  a  garment  and  be  turned 
to  ashes.  A  reflecting  man  at  once  perceives  that 
this  material  creation  is  not  the  fit  subject  for  any 
great  and  ultimate  procedure  of  the  infinite  Mind. 
It  is,  and  ever  must  be,  wanting  in  those  elements 
which  are  essential  to  great  and  lasting  results. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion is,  that  it  rises  above  and  beyond  the  ob- 
jects of  time  and  sense,  and  concerns  itself  with  the 


84  BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

immaterial,  the  moral,  tlie  immortal — realities  ttat 
have  more  than  a  relative  and  temporary  value,  and 
that  remain  and  stand  fast  when  this  external  ma- 
chinery of  nature  is  broken  up,  and  blazing  planets 
die — realities  forever  enlarging,  expanding  forever 
in  holiness  and  joy  never  yet  attained  by  the  lof- 
tiest seraph,  or  in  wickedness  and  woe  never  yet 
endured  by  the  foulest  fiend.  There  are  heights 
and  depths  in  this  onward  career  which  imagina- 
tion cannot  fathom.  Man's  redemption  alone  stands 
abreast  with  his  immortality,  ever  onward,  with- 
out measure  and  without  end.  It  is  a  new  world 
this  redemption  stands  related  to  ;  a  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth,  where  immortal  faculties  flourish, 
and  thoughts  and  affections  and  responsibilities 
and  joys  follow  the  march  of  eternity. 

In  this  earth  on  which  we  dwell  material  things 
are  very  apt  to  shut  out  the  immaterial.  The  con- 
flict is  between  the  visible  and  the  invisible,  the  mor- 
tal and  the  immortal,  the  sensual  and  the  spiritual. 
The  most  distinguished  naturalist  of  the  age  has 
expressed  the  opinion  that  those  who  are  most  de- 
voted to  the  researches  of  natural  science  are  most 
exposed  to  atheism.  Doubting,  first  the  reality  of 
the  immaterial  world  as  distinct  from  material  or- 
ganization, men  at  length  stop  at  second  causes,  and 
lose  sight  of  the  great  First  Cause.  Their  higher 
and  immortal  nature  does  not  interest  them.  Yet 
is  this  the  key-stone  in  the  arch  of  the  spiritual 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  85 

temple.  Redemption  rises  above  creation  and 
providence  by  the  moral  and  immortal  nature  of 
its  subjects.  These  relations  to  eternity  give  it  its 
immeasurable  importance.  If  there  are  wonders 
in  a  leaf  of  the  forest,  in  a  beam  of  light,  and  a 
drop  of  water,  what  a  world  of  wonders  is  man — 
man  fallen — man  redeemed — ^man  glorified !  Were 
the  material  universe  crowded  and  compact  to- 
gether within  the  compass  of  the  earth  on  which 
we  dwell,  and  all  its  orbs  of  light  were  there,  and 
all  its  hoary-headed  mountains,  and  all  its  rivers, 
and  all  its  palaces  and  gold, — one  creature  of 
God,  fallen  and  redeemed,  would  outweigh  them 
all.  And  if  "  one  sinner  that  repenteth  "  is  the  joy 
of  the  holy  universe,  well  may  reason  be  confound- 
ed, and  imagination  wearied  in  the  flight,  when 
from  the  summit  of  Mount  Zion  they  survey  the 
"  great  multitude  which  no  man  can  number,"  all 
born  for  immortality,  that  are  comprised  in  this 
redemption.  We  need  to  be  inhabitants  of  eter- 
nity, in  order  to  appreciate  the  work  so  conversant 
with  eternity.  We  look  to  the  Cross,  to  learn  the 
worth  of  the  soul ;  and  we  look  to  the  soul,  to 
know  the  worth  of  the  Cross.  If  there  is  no  re- 
demption, immortality  is  a  curse ;  if  there  is  no 
immortality,  redemption  is  a  dream.  Man  is 
worthless,  if  Christ  is  worthless.  If  man  is  more 
than  a  vain  show,  a  worthless  bubble,  a  sigh,  a 
grave ;  if  his  existence,  if  the  countless  existences 


86  BEICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

of  humanity  leap  over  all  the  landmarks  of  time, 
and  roll  onward  to  a  boundless  eternity,  then 
Christ  and  his  redemption  are  everything. 

Look  now,  in  tlie  second  place^  at  the  means  by 
which  his  rede7nption  is  accomplished. 

These  millions  born  for  immortality,  multiplied 
like  the  leaves  of  the  forest  and  like  the  sand  on 
the  shore,  are  all  fallen  by  their  iniquity,  and  are  the 
children  of  wrath.  Sin  has  made  the  earth  where 
they  dwell  a  charnel-house.  The  dead  are  there. 
It  is  the  cemetery  of  ages.  The  pall  of  midnight 
rests  upon  it.  It  performs  its  revolutions  under 
the  curse  of  a  violated  law.  An  impenetrable  cloud 
hangs  over  it  that  is  surcharged  with  wrath.  How 
to  rescue  them  and  restore  them  to  the  divine  fa- 
vor, without  the  subversion  of  that  righteous 
empire  so  wisely  and  benevolently  established 
throughout  the  universe,  and  without  a  complete 
prostration  of  that  justice  and  judgment  which  are 
the  habitation  of  God's  throne,  was  the  great  prob- 
lem which  agitated  unsearchable  Wisdom  to  its 
depths.  It  could  not  be  solved  by  an  act  of  arbi- 
trary power,  for  then  the  sovereignty  of  God  would 
come  in  collision  with  his  rectitude.  It  could  not 
be  solved  by  the  overflowing  tenderness  which  re- 
coils from  the  execution  of  a  law  which  heaven 
and  earth  pronounce  holy,  just,  and  good,  but 
rather  by  some  procedure  which  magnifies  the  law 
and   makes   it    honorable;    which   vindicates    its 


BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL.  87 

claims,  and  is  itself  the  end  of  the  law  for  right- 
eousness to  every  one  that  believeth.  It  was  a  glo- 
rious object  to  attain,  and  the  heart  of  God  was  set 
upon  it  as  it  was  never  set  upon  any  other  enter- 
prise. Nor  was  it  set  upon  it  in  vain.  The  method 
of  obtaining  it  stands  abreast  with  the  magnitude 
of  the  work.  It  was  no  after-thought ;  it  was 
wrapt  up  in  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God.  What 
was  it  ?  Oh  !  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the 
wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  !  It  was  "  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the  Spirit,  seen  of 
angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in 
the  world,  received  up  into  glory."  This  is  the  sum 
and  substance  of  the  method.  The  inscription 
stands  engraven  as  on  a  pillar  for  luminous  exhibi- 
tion to  the  world.  When  the  Saviour  said  to  his 
disciples,  "  I  came  forth  from  the  Father,  and  am 
come  into  the  world  ;  again,  I  leave  the  world  and 
go  to  the  Father,"  it  was  the  solution  of  the 
enigma,  "A  little  while  and  ye  shall  not  see  me ; 
and  again,  a  little  while  and  ye  shall  see  me."  We 
need  not  marvel  that  they  replied,  "  Now  speakest 
thou  plainly,  and  speaketh  no  proverb."  But  plain 
and  intelligible  as  the  declaration  is,  it  contains 
thin^  which  angels  desire  to  look  into. 

Of  all  realities,  this  is  the  most  astonishing — 
the  Seed  of  the  woman  bruising  the  serpent's  head. 
He  whom  all  the  angels  of  God  worship — ^he  to 
whom  thousand  thousands  minister,  and  ten  thou- 


88  BRICK  CHUECH  MEMORIAL. 

sand  times  ten  thousand  stand  before  him — he 
before  whose  majesty  and  glory  they  cover  their 
faces  with  their  wings — ^he  who,  being  in  the  form 
of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with 
God,  talcing  upon  Mm  the  form  of  a  servant^  and  made 
in  the  likeness  of  men  !  This  great  fact  stands  alone 
in  the  history  of  the  universe ;  amid  all  created  and 
uncreated  things  there  is  nothing  like  it.  Gabriel 
might  have  become  a  worm ;  but  it  would  have 
been  a  faint  adumbration  of  such  condescension 
as  this.  The  brightest  prince  in  the  court  of  heaven 
might  have  put  off  the  splendor  of  the  upper  sanc- 
tuary, and,  like  Babylon's  degraded  monarch,  been 
driven  from  among  his  pure  and  uncorporeal  peers 
to  eat  grass  like  oxen,  till  seven  times  past  over  him ; 
but  this  were  but  the  passing  and  unnoticed  shadow 
of  that  low  estate  to  which  the  second  person  in  the 
ever  blessed  and  adorable  Godhead  was  subjected 
when  he  was  "  made  of  a  woman — ^made  under  the 
law,  that  he  might  redeem  them  that  were  under 
the  law."  What  a  view  is  this, — the  mighty  God, 
the  everlasting  Father  becoming  one  of  the  sons  of 
men !  Four  thousand  years  had  passed  away  since 
sin  and  death  entered  upon  their  devastations  on 
this  earth,  when,  lo !  the  announcement  was  made 
in  heaven  that  the  Son  of  God  was  about  to  put  on 
the  form  of  a  servant :  and  when  he  laid  aside  his 
celestial  robes  and  crown,  it  was  a  day  never  to  be 
forgotten ;  it  was  the  jubilee  of  the  universe  cele- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  89 

brated  on  earth,  and  destined  to  be  a  higli  anniver- 
sary even  in  the  realms  of  liglit. 

Yet  this  was  but  preliminary  to  the  proposed 
arrangement.  Thus  debased,  the  Incarnate  One 
took  upon  himself  the  mighty  aggregate  of  human 
guilt.  Holy,  harmless,  and  undefiled,  as  susceptible 
to  pain  and  reproach  as  to  degradation  and  shame, 
he  was  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief. 
Legions  of  holy  beings  hung  over  his  pathway,  but 
it  was  a  sad  pilgrimage.  His  earthly  existence  was 
unceasingly  embittered ;  and  with  no  alleviation  to 
his  sorrows,  amid  embarrassments  and  temptations, 
sufferings  and  a  self-sacrificing  submission,  such  as 
the  sun  had  never  before  looked  upon,  he  trode  his 
obedient  way,  and  trode  it  alone,  though  abuse  and 
insult  met  him  at  every  step.  Not  a  disloyal  act, 
nor  murmuring  word,  nor  impatient  emotion,  nor 
reluctant  wish,  marked  his  history  from  first  to  last. 
Dark  and  dismal  as  was  the  last  scene,  the  service  and 
the  suffering  had  attractions  for  him  even  beyond 
the  glory  he  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world 
was.  He  foresaw  it  all,  yet  he  chose  it ;  he  felt  it 
all,  yet  he  did  not  recoil  from  the  burden.  His 
enemies  challenged  him  to  come  down  from  the 
cross ;  but  he  could  not  come  down  till  his  work 
was  accomplished.  There,  while  worlds  gazed  upon 
the  sight,  gazing  with  immeasurable  interest,  and 
crowding  around  his  cross,  he  made  his  soul  an 
offering  for  sin — a  spectacle  to  God  and  angels, 


90  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

men  and  devils — the  satisfaction  of  justice  and  tlie 
purchase  of  eternal  life. 

These  are  the  means  by  which  this  redemption 
was  accomplished.  Such  is  the  groundwork  of  the 
sinner's  pardon  and  j  ustification.  On  these  the  whole 
redemption  rests ;  a  superstructure  worthy  of  its 
eternal  and  glorious  author,  and  resting  on  an  im- 
perishable foundation.  The  purpose  of  redeeming 
mercy  had  been  stillborn  but  for  this  wonderful 
humiliation,  this  perfected  abasement  of  the  Son 
of  Grod.  This  great  fact,  like  the  doctrine  of  man's 
accountableness  and  immortality,  underlies  all  the 
truths  of  a  supernatural  revelation.  Its  types  and 
prefigurations,  its  ceremonial  and  moral  jurispru- 
dence, its  predictions  in  all  their  fulness,  harmony, 
and  progressive  character,  its  doctrinal  instruction, 
its  promises  and  threatenings,  its  terms  of  salvation, 
its  faith  and  hopes,  all  receive  their  fulfilment  or 
derive  their  true  import  from  Christ  Jesus  and  him 
crucified.  Like  the  star  of  Jacob,  it  lights  up  the 
night  of  ages  that  are  past ;  and  like  the  Sun  of 
righteousness,  foretold  by  Malachi,  it  pours  its  heal- 
ing beams  on  the  coming  years  of  the  right  hand 
of  the  Most  High.  It  is  the  great  central  fact  in 
the  universe.  And  if  that  is  the  greatest  work  of 
God  which  is  the  most  Godlike  and  accomplished 
in  the  most  Godlike  way,  there  is  nothing  to  be 
compared  with  this  redemption. 

In  addition  to  this,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 


BKICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  91 

it  MAKES   EVERYTHING  ELSE   SUBSERVIENT  TO  ITS  IN- 
TERESTS AND  ADVANCEMENT. 

That  cause  for  which  God  planted  the  heavens 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  may  well  be 
regarded  as  important  enough  to  lay  under  contribu- 
tion every  creature  and  every  event  in  the  universe. 
Such  are  the  teachings  of  the  Bible.  In  this  great 
cause,  God  first  and  chiefly  spared  not  his  Son ;  and 
well  does  the  apostle  demand,  "  How  shall  he  not 
with  him  freely  give  us  all  things."  The  greater 
includes  the  less.  There  is  nothing  in  the  works 
of  creation  nor  in  the  works  of  providence  which 
does  not  derive  its  importance  and  value  from  the 
relations  it  sustains,  and  the  influence  it  exerts  upon 
this  redemption.  Do  we  ask  for  what  and  for 
whom  were  all  these  worlds  and  beings  made  ?  the 
answer  is,  "  All  things  were  made  by  Hni  and  for 
Him."  No  matter  what  it  is, — material  and  immar 
terial — visible  and  invisible — heaven,  earth,  thrones, 
dynasties,  angels,  men,  devils, — this  E-edeemer  is 
head  over  them  all,  and  makes  them  all,  in  different 
measures  and  different  ways,  subservient  to  his  high 
purpose  of  redeeming  mercy.  The  mountain  rivu- 
let is  not  more  tributary  to  the  river,  nor  the  thou- 
sand rivers  to  the  ocean,  nor  the  ocean  in  its  turn 
more  certainly  to  the  clouds,  the  dew,  the  rain, 
than  all  things  are  tributary  to  the  great  design  of 
his  redemption.  The  sun  rises  and  sets  for  him,  or 
at  his  command  it  stands  still  upon  Gibeon ;  and 


92  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

for  him  tlie  moon  walks  in  her  brightness,  or  rests 
over  the  valley  of  Ajalon.  The  Kose  of  Sharon 
blooms  to  indicate  his  loveliness,  and  the  Lily  of 
the  Valley  to  show  forth  his  beauty.  There  is  not 
a  wave  that  lashes  the  shore,  nor  a  tumultuous 
revolution  among  the  people ;  there  is  not  a  por- 
tentous indication  that  makes  the  inhabitants  of 
the  world  afraid  at  his  tokens,  nor  a  gladsome  sign 
that  makes  the  outgoings  of  the  morning  and  the 
evening  to  rejoice,  nor  a  sweeping  flood,  nor  a  year 
of  famine,  nor  a  battle  of  the  warrior, — no,  not  one 
among  all  the  physical  or  moral  causes  that  act 
upon  the  character  and  condition  of  men,  but  acts 
also  upon  his  cause  and  honor,  and  is,  therefore, 
under  the  control  of  this  Mediator-king.  The  earth 
we  live  upon  would  never  have  been  created, 
never  had  its  seasons  revolved,  nor  its  landscapes 
smiled,  nor  its  Sabbaths  visited  us,  nor  its  ministry 
of  reconciliation  been  known,  nor  its  glad  tidings 
listened  to,  had  it  not  been  spread  out  as  the 
selected  theatre  of  a  great  redemption.  Were  a 
Christian  statesman  to  look  over  the  earth  at  the 
present  hour,  what  a  multitude  of  events  would  he 
discover  that  are  indissolubly  associated  with  the 
great  interests  of  man's  redemption!  and  how,  in 
this  inspection,  would  he  have  the  key  that  unlocks 
many  a  mystery  in  the  complicated  affairs  of  men ! 
And  when,  in  some  future  age,  the  favored  historian 
shall  arise,  as  deeply  imbued  with  the  knowledge 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  93 

of  God  as  with  the  researches  of  men,  who  shall 
look  back  and  tell  of  the  past,  how  certainly  will 
his  point  of  vision  be  the  mountains  of  Zion,  his 
pen  dipped  in  Siloam's  brook !  If,  when  the  foun- 
dation of  the  earth  was  laid,  the  morning  stai*s  sang 
together  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy, 
how  inspiriting  the  view,  and  how  rapturous  the 
song,  when  in  full  and  long  retrospect  this  redemp- 
tion asserts  its  honors,  and  it  stands  confessed  that 
for  this  all  things  were  made !  Great  or  small,  vast 
or  minute,  complicated  or  simple,  full  of  terroi*s  or 
of  joy,  dissociated  from  its  relations  to  this  redemp- 
tion it  is  nothing,  it  was  formed  in  vain.  It  is  un- 
worthy of  God,  because  it  is  no  part  of  that  one 
grand,  systematic,  harmonious  whole,  of  which  the 
redemption  is  the  fulfilment  and  the  glory. 

With  such  resources,  therefore,  we  may,  in  the 
fourth  place^  take  a  glance  at  its  conflicts  and 

TKIUMPHS. 

As  head  over  all  things  to  his  church,  the  ac- 
credited Redeemer  is  a  king  and  has  a  kingdom. 
When  he  stood  at  the  bar  of  the  Roman  procura- 
tor, Pilate  asked  him,  "  Art  thou  a  king  then  ? " 
Jesus  answered  him,  "  For  this  end  was  I  born,  and 
for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world."  Thousrh 
born  of  a  woman  and  crucified  as  a  malefactor, 
God  has  exalted  him  as  king  upon  his  holy  hill  of 
Zion,  and  given  him  a  name  that  is  above  every 
name ;  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should 


94  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

bow,  and  every  tongue  confess  tliat  lie  is  Lord,  to 
the  glory  of  God  the  Father. 

Enemies  he  has  on  earth  and  in  the  dark  world 
of  perdition.  His  conflict  is  with  sin  ;  and  however 
insidious  and  mysterious  its  working,  and  however 
vast  its  empire  and  severe  its  bondage,  his  object 
is  accomplished  only  as  the  empire  of  wickedness 
is  overthrown,  and  the  kingdom  of  truth  and  ho- 
liness established  in  its  place.  This  is  his  great 
object.  His  death  and  sacrifice,  his  boundless 
grace  and  mercy,  and  the  perfected  justification  of 
those  who  believe  in  him,  are  but  means  to  this 
great  end.  He  foreknew  and  predestinated  them 
that  they  might  be  conformed  to  the  image  he 
wears.  He  calls  them,  he  justifies  them,  he  glori- 
fies them,  his  full  blessing  consisting  in  turning 
away  every  one  of  them  from  his  iniquities. 

The  enterprise  is  worthy  of  its  author  ;  and  the 
greatness,  the  glory  of  it  can  be  measured  only  by 
the  obstacles  it  surmounts.  Its  conflict  with  law 
and  justice  we  have  already  adverted  to,  and  its 
conquests  over  them.  But  it  has  other  conflicts 
and  other  triumphs.  That  priceless  thing,  the  soul 
of  man,  was  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  the 
bonds  of  iniquity.  This  magnificent  edifice,  this 
spiritual  temple  where  God  once  dwelt,  was  in 
ruins,  its  grandeur  and  beauty  disfigured,  defaced, 
polluted,  and  the  abode  of  the  foul  spirits  of  dark- 
ness in  every  form.     Sin  was  there  in  all  its  ugli- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  95 

ness.  Idle  and  wandering  thoughts  were  there, — 
dreamy  fancies,  lying  vanities,  towering  pride,  ab- 
sorbing selfishness,  debasing  lusts,  malignant  pas- 
sions, prolific  error,  and  that  mother  monster,  en- 
mity to  Grod.  And  these  were  followed  up  and 
acted  out  in  deeds  of  wickedness  of  varied  form 
and  enormity, — from  the  obscenity  of  idol  altars, 
to  their  inhuman  cruelty — from  bold  infidelity,  to 
open  contempt  and  profanation  of  all  that  is  sacred 
— ^from  the  anarchy  and  confusion  where  every  so- 
cial tie  is  torn  asunder,  to  the  lawless  riot  which 
embitters  all  the  ingredients  of  human  intercourse 
— from  the  solitary  blow  of  Cain,  to  the  extermi- 
nation of  millions  on  the  field  of  battle — ^from  the 
licentiousness  of  the  brothel,  to  the  libertinism  of 
the  harem — ^from  breaches  of  trust  and  deeds 
of  dishonesty,  to  the  ravaging  of  provinces — ^from 
the  romancing  of  a  fertile  imagination,  ta  the  bear- 
ing of  false  witness  against  our  neighbor — ^from  the 
miserable  shifts  of  avarice,  to  the  desolations  of 
the  slave-trade — and  from  the  sighing  of  the  sick- 
chamber,  to  the  overwhelming  miseries  that  deluge 
the  earth.  Such  is  the  devil's  work  and  the  fruit 
of  man's  apostasy. 

Offensively  and  defensively,  and  with  vigorous 
purpose  and  fearful  success,  have  the  powers  of 
darkness  prosecuted  the  war,  sometimes  by  force 
and  cruelty,  and  sometimes  by  delusion  and  false- 
hood.   Nations  have  been  deceived  and  enchained 


96  BEICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

by  it,  and  the  "  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness," 
chained  down  in  spiritual  bondage,  darkness,  and 
death. 

Yet  "the  messenger  of  the  covenant,"  girded 
with  truth,  his  feet  shod  with  the  preparation  of 
the  gospel  of  peace,  having  on  the  breastplate  of 
righteousness,  bearing  the  shield  of  faith,  and 
armed  with  omnipotent  power,  though  he  did  not 
anticipate  a  speedy,  was  sure  of  an  ultimate  tri- 
umph. The  conflict  needed  such  a  champion.  No 
other  could  restrain  or  subdue  the  foe.  Philoso- 
phy could  not  do  it :  its  sages  were  learned  and 
eloquent,  but  they  were  pigmies  in  such  a  contest. 
Legislation  could  not  do  it:  human  laws,  proud 
monument  as  they  were  of  ancient  civilization, 
were  but  as  the  spider's  web.  Science  could  not 
do  it :  with  all  its  bi'illiant  discoveries,  it  had  no 
power  to  cure  the  leprosy  of  sin.  Nor  could  the 
guilty  and  miserable  victims  liberate  themselves. 
Darkness  never  yet  created  light;  sin  never  yet 
vanquished  sin.  There  is  nothing  in  man  to  take 
the  part  of  God  against  himself  Sin  would  reign 
supreme  and  uncontrolled,  for  all  that  men  and 
means  can  accomplish ;  and  forever  reign,  but  for 
him  who  is  stronger  than  the  strong  armed. 

His  work  comprises  redemption  by  price  and 
redemption  by  power.  Early  the  mandate  went 
forth  :  "  Gird  thy  sword  upon  thy  thigh,  O  most 
mighty,  with  thy  glory  and  thy  majesty ;  and  in 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  97 

thy  majesty  ride  prosperously,  because  of  truth 
and  meekness  and  righteousness."  A  crown  was 
given  to  Iiim,  and  he  went  forth  conquering  and  to 
conquer.  Sometimes  the  day  of  vengeance  is  in 
his  heart  because  the  year  of  his  redeemed  is 
come ;  while  his  province  and  his  prerogative  are 
to  draw  his  enemies  by  the  coi'ds  of  love  as  with 
the  bands  of  a  man.  Nor  are  his  victories  the  less 
real  because  they  are  noiseless.  The  Lord  is  not 
in  the  earthquake,  nor  in  the  strong  wind,  nor  in 
the  fire,  but  in  the  still,  small  voice.  It  is  the  ex- 
cellency of  poT^'er,  gentle  as  the  dew,  and  soft  as 
the  breathing  of  his  love.  It  is  his  own  new-creat- 
ing Spirit ;  it  is  the  Dove  of  heaven  hovering  over 
a  lost  world,  and  from  his  fleecy  cloud  distilling 
blessings  that  make  Jerusalem  a  rejoicing  and  her 
people  a  joy.  The  God  of  heaven  has  no  interest 
in  the  universe  so  dear  to  his  heart  as  this.  He 
himself  presides  over  it,  and  conducts  it  to  its  glo- 
rious issues.  It  is  his  work,  and  his  greatest  work. 
"  Behold,"  says  he,  "  I  create  Jerusalem  a  rejoicing 
and  her  people  a  joy."  The  men  of  this  world 
erect  monuments  in  commemoration  of  events  that 
mark  important  epochs  in  its  history.  They  shout 
the  praises  of  the  hero  who  has  fought  their  bat- 
tles and  achieved  their  victories.  But  here  are  the 
conflicts  and  victories  of  him  whp  "hath  on  his 
vesture  and  on  his  thigh  a  name  written,  King  of 
kings,  and  Lord  of  lords."     If  poets  and  painters 


98  BEICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

depict  the  scenes  where  battles  are  fought  and  vic- 
tories won,  how  much  more  memorable  are  the 
scenes  where  the  Spirit  descends,  and  the  Captain 
of  our  salvation  has  fought  and  conquered !  This 
was  the  joy  set  before  him,  when,  without  a  smile, 
without  a  drop  of  consolation,  he  hung  between 
heaven  and  earth,  and  all  the  waves  and  billows 
of  God's  wrath  were  passing  over  him.  Well  does 
he  deserve  the  crown.  Ride  on,  thou  mighty  Con- 
querer  !  the  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom  is  a  right  scep- 
tre. Roll  on,  roll  on,  thou  river  of  God,  that  art  full 
of  water !  the  wilderness  and  the  cities  are  glad 
for  thee ;  the  villages  that  Kedar  doth  inhabit  lift 
up  their  voice;  let  the  inhabitants  of  the  rock 
sing;  let  them  shout  from  the  top  of  the  rnoun* 
tains  !  Let  the  triumph  begin,  "  The  kingdoms  of 
this  world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord 
and  his  Christ,  and  he  shall  reign  forever  and 
ever." 

Another  testimony  to  the  magnitude  of  this  re- 
demption is  found  in  the  fact  that  it  is  so  expres- 
sive OF  THE  GLORY  OF  ITS  GREAT  AuTHOR. 

Un wasting  as  are  the  resources  of  joy  and  bless- 
edness eternally  within  the  great  First  Cause,  he 
would  not  exist  alone.  If  we  inquire  why  he 
chose  to  give  existence  to  creatures  and  worlds,  we 
have  the  answer  in  the  words,  "  Thou  hast  created 
all  things,  and  for  tliy  plea-s-ure  they  exist  and  were 
created."     What  his  great  and  ultimate  end  is  in 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  99 

all  that  lie  does,  is  a  question  that  lies  deep  at  the 
foundation  of  all  sound  theology  and  true  relig- 
ion. Nor  do  we  see  but  the  one  answer  to  this 
question ;  God  himself  is  and  must  be  his  own  end. 
The  silence  and  the  solitude  of  eternity  were  bro- 
ken by  the  voice  which  "  spake,  and  it  was  done ; 
which  commanded,  and  it  stood  fast."  His  perfec- 
tions require  eternity  to  unfold ;  and,  though  sel- 
fishness has  no  place  in  his  nature,  he  does,  as  he 
ought,  appreciate  his  own  character  and  claims. 
All  holiness  and  joy  are  from  him,  and  are  pro- 
duced and  perpetuated  by  the  most  perfect  and 
harmonious  manifestation  of  his  own  intrinsic  and 
unchanging  excellence.  And  because  it  exhibits 
his  character  in  all  its  grandeur  and  loveliness,  it 
is  such  a  manifestation  as  gratifies  his  infinitely 
benevolent  mind. 

Followed  out  to  their  conclusions,  these  are  great 
truths ;  but  they  are  obvious  truths.  The  infinite 
does  not  exist  for  the  finite,  but  the  finite  for  the 
infinite.  Man's  existence,  and  man's  rectitude  and 
happiness,  point  above  and  beyond  himself.  Meas- 
ure the  earth,  count  the  stars,  and  people  the 
moon  and  the  planets ;  and  when  you  have  num- 
bered them  they  are  but  atoms  compared  with  the 
infinite  "All  in  All ; "  themselves  deriving  their 
worth  and  importance  from  their  forthgoing  ex- 
pression of  the  inefiiible  glory  of  the  eternal  and 
infinite  One,  "of  whom,  to  whom,  and  through 


100  BEICK  CHUKCH  MEMORIAL. 

wTiom  are  all  things."  How  obvious  to  the  mind 
of  any  man  but  an  atheist  is  it,  that  "  God  made 
all  things  for  himself  1 "  Who  else  should  he  make 
them  for  ?  Look  above,  beneath,  around  you !  you 
see  wisdom  and  design  in  all  things.  All  that  is, 
or  ever  will  be,  was  made  for  God.  Oh !  it  is  a 
delightful  thought.  We  would  have  God  exalted 
everywhere,  by  all  creatures,  and  always. 

This  redemption,  originating  in  his  warm  and 
loving  bosom, — what  would  it  be  if  it  were  not  so 
full  of  God?  What  would  it  be  if  from  every 
page  of  the  Bible,  every  bright  day  of  the  Son  of 
man,  every  pulpit,  every  baptismal  altar,  every  com- 
munion-table, eveiy  high-born  hope  of  pardon  and 
peace,  every  flowing  stream  from  the  river  of  life, 
and  every  bird  of  paradise  that  sings  upon  its  out- 
spreading branches,  were  they  not  vocal  with  the 
truth,  "  Not  for  your  sakes  do  I  this,  saith  the  Lord 
God,  be  it  known  unto  you,  but  for  my  great  Name^s 
sake  ? "  No  marvel  that,  on  the  early  intimations 
of  this  great  work,  the  morning  stars  sang  together, 
and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy,  and  that 
with  every  progressive  disclosure  of  it  the  angels 
cover  their  faces  with  their  wings.  Oh !  it  was  a 
bright  epoch  in  eternity  that  gave  rise  to  a  de- 
sign thus  comprehensive,  thus  carried  into  execu- 
tion, thus  glorious  in  its  conflicts  and  triumphs,  in 
order  to  rend  the  veil  that  shut  out  the  glories  of 
the  Godhead  from  the  view  of  creatures,  and  make 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  101 

him  appear  to  mortal  eyes — ^him  the  eternal,  un- 
created One — him  first,  him  last,  him  midst,  him 
everything. 

Nature  and  providence,  nay,  the  first  covenant, 
are  enveloped  in  clouds  and  darkness.  There  is  a 
bright  side  to  the  cloud ;  but  it  is  a  cloud  still,  and 
has  a  mixture  of  obscurity  compared  with  the  glory 
that  shines  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  God's  de- 
signs are  deep  and  unfathomable,  separated  from 
his  redeeming  mercy.  He  himself  was  never  truly 
known  until  he  became  Emmanuel.  We  see  him 
now  in  some  measure  as  he  is.  It  is  his  great  work 
we  are  looking  at ;  the  master  device  of  his  mighty 
intellect  and  surpassing  love.  Vast  and  comprehen- 
sive as  it  is,  it  is  one  which  he  will  never  see  any 
reason  nor  have  any  desire  to  enlarge,  or  diminish, 
or  alter.  Here  Le  has  developed  the  ruling  motive 
of  his  conduct,  and  solves  every  dark  problem,  and 
unweaves  every  intricate  web  in  his  providence. 
The  highest  exhibition  of  uncreated  excellence 
which  created  beings  have  ever  discovered,  or  ever 
will  discover,  is  in  this  wonderful  Redemption.  Ev- 
ery eye  is  now  thrown  upon  him,  not  as  a  wither- 
ing abstraction ;  not  as  an  existence  demonstrated 
by  a  logical  process;  not  as  a  personification  of 
mere  greatness  and  majesty,  whom  to  contemplate 
only  fills  the  mind  Tjith  awe ;  but  as  a  vivid  rep- 
resentation of  perfect  rectitude  and  perfect  good- 
ness,— the  unseen  God  seen  by  mortal  eyes,  heard 


102  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

by  mortal  ears,  and  his  voice  of  love  calling  for  a 
response  from  mortal  hearts. 

Yes,  from  mortal  eyes,  mortal  ears,  and  mortal 
hearts.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  inward  wit- 
ness to  the  truths  of  this  redemption.  Good  men 
contemplate  it  with  delight  and  joy.  There  is  so 
much  in  it  of  the  God  they  love,  of  the  Saviour 
who  died  for  them,  of  the  Spirit  who  sanctifies  them, 
of  the  prospects  and  destiny  of  that  kingdom  of 
which  they  are  the  subjects,  of  the  well-being  of 
this  world  and  of  the  interests  of  the  universe,  of 
the  holiness  and  happiness  of  time  and  eternity,  that 
every  devout  mind  contemplates  it  with  delightful 
and  delighted  admiration.  When  the  truths  and 
spirit  of  this  redemption  are  no  longer  the  objects  of 
a  mere  intellectual  perception,  but  are  transferred  to 
the  believer's  heart  and  experience,  it  is  then  that 
this  wondrous  procedure  of  heavenly  wisdom  and 
love  is  seen  in  its  true  glory  and  in  all  the  beauty 
of  holiness.  In  every  instance  of  genuine  conver- 
sion, it  is,  as  it  were,  repeated  and  acted  over  anew. 
It  has  its  counterpart  in  the  bosom  of  every  con- 
verted man.  Its  deity  is  there,  because  for  the  first 
time  he  is  there  enthroned  and  honored.  His  rec- 
titude and  justice  are  there.  His  abounding  mercy 
is  there.  His  omnipotence  is  there.  His  sovereignty 
is  there.  His  faithfulness  is  jbhere.  The  consum- 
mation of  all  his  purposes,  yea,  his  whole  glory,  is 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  103 

there,  if  not  in  full  portrait,  in  amiable  and  impres- 
sive miniature,  reflected  from,  the  cross,  inwrought 
in  the  soul,  and  progressively  changing  the  beholder 
from  glory  to  gloiy,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord.  Every  glimpse  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ,  excites  and  gives  enlargement 
to  his  brightest  views  and  best  affections.  The 
separating  wall  between  time  and  eternity  is  bro- 
ken down ;  future  things  become  present,  and  in- 
visible thin^  visible.  We  seem  at  such  seasons 
to  walk  with  God  as  Enoch  walked,  and  to  con- 
verse with  him  as  the  favored  disciples  did  when 
he  was  transfisrured  before  them.  Moses  felt  this 
transforming  power  when  he  was  in  the  mount  with 
God,  and  his  face  shone  with  the  lustre  of  the 
interview.  Isaiah  felt  it,  when  in  holy  vision  he 
saw  this  Jesus  sitting  upon  a  throne  high  and  lifted 
up,  and  his  train  filled  the  temple.  Paul  felt  it, 
when  he  was  caught  up  to  the  third  heavens ;  and 
John  felt  it  in  Patmos,  when  One  *  like  unto  the 
Son  of  man  spake  with  him  from  the  midst  of  the 
golden  candlesticks.  Other  truths  are  fugitive  in 
their  influence,  and  melt  away  in  comparison  with 
those  inwoven  with  this  redemption.  These  elevate 
and  purify.  They  have  led  millions,  and  will  lead 
millions  upon  millions  more,  to  communion  with 
the  eternal  Mind,  and  to  growing  conformity  to 
heaven.     By  nothing  is  man  so  transformed  and 


104  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

God  SO  glorified  as  by  the  practical  working  of  this 
redemption ;  "  according  as  it  is  written,  lie  that 
glorieth  let  him  glory  in  the  Lord." 

Such  is  this  redemption ;  great  in  the  spiritual 
and  immortal  nature  of  its  subjects  ;  in  the  means 
by  which  it  has  been  effected ;  in  the  subserviency 
of  all  things  to  its  interests  and  advancement ;  in 
its  conflicts  and  triumphs,  and  in  the  progressive 
manifestations  it  furnishes  of  the  glory  of  its 
author. 

The  views  that  have  been  presented  suggest  to  us, 
1.  In  the  first  place,  to  put  a  ju-si  estimate  upon 
our  religious  privileges.  There  is  a  view  in  which 
the  planet  on  which  we  dwell  is  a  very  insignifi- 
cant thing  compared  with  some  of  the  worlds 
which  float  above  us.  The  Psalmist  once  ex- 
claimed, "When  I  consider  the  heavens  which 
are  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the  moon  and  the 
stars  which  thou  hast  ordained,  Lord,  what  is  man 
that  thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and  the  son  of  man 
that  thou  shouldest  visit  him ! "  And  there  is  a 
view  in  which  this  little  world  rises  superior  to 
any  other  part  of  the  universe.  Though  not  so 
large  as  some  in  the  solar  system ;  not  so  exalted 
as  heaven  nor  so  abject  as  hell,  it  stands  midway 
between  the  prison  and  the  throne.  These  mate- 
rial worlds  above  us  are  obedient  to  the  ordinances 
of  Heaven.-  From  the  heavenly  bodies  to  the 
young  leaf  of  the  forest,  they  all  obey  the  eternal 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  105 

Lawgiver.  This  earth  lias  violated  the  laws  of  its 
being,  floated  away  from  the  high  position  origi- 
nally assigned  to  it,  and  joined  in  the  revolt  of 
the  fallen.  It  is  a  condemned  world ;  it  is  the 
prisoner  of  justice,  and  under  the  sentence  of  out- 
raged law.  But  though  the  prisoner  of  justice,  it 
is  the  "  prisoner  of  hope,"  and  placed  in  a  state  of 
reprieve  between  condemnation  and  the  executed 
sentence.  When  angels  fell,  they  were  condemned 
to  chains  of  darkness,  and  the  sentence  was  exe- 
cuted. Man  sinned,  and  this  great  redemption  in- 
terposed for  his  rescue.  It  brought  him  within 
the  reach  of  salvation,  and  placed  him  under  a 
system  of  instruction  and  discipline  fitted  to  form 
his  character  for  eternity.  And  now,  as  ever,  it 
makes  its  appeals  to  his  conscience  and  his  heart, 
by  truths  and  motives  drawn  from  all  that  is  bind- 
ing in  the  divine  authority,  all  that  is  persuasive 
in  the  tenderness  of  infinite  love,  and  all  that  is 
powerful  in  the  notes  of  the  redeemed  in  contrast 
with  the  wailiugs  of  despair.  It  has  its  alone  place 
under  the  mediatorial  reign  of  the  Son  of  God, 
under  proclamation  of  the  "  glad  tidings  of  great 
joy,"  under  the  light  of  Sabbaths,  under  the  faith- 
ful and  earnest  ministrations  of  the  sanctuary,  and 
under  the  strivings  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  These  are 
privileges  which  involve  man's  dearest  interests  for 
time  and  eternity ;  privileges  which  will  be  remem- 
bered when  pastors  and  people  stand  before  God ; 


lOG  BRICK   CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

when  all  the  nations  are  dead,  the  earth  is  burnt 
up,  and  the  heavens  are  no  more.  They  are  privi- 
leges which,  if  rightly  employed,  secure  to  the 
heirs  of  immortality  a  holy  and  blessed  inheritance 
beyond  the  grave.  They  are  privileges  which,  by 
virtue  of  the  believer's  union  to  Jesus  Christ,  assign 
him  a  place  above  the  angels  who  never  fell,  and 
a  song  which  none  can  learn  but  those  who  are  the 
redeemed  from  among  men.  Apostate  as  it  is,  this 
redemption  gives  an  importance  to  the  world  in 
which  we  dwell,  which  belongs  to  no  other  world. 
It  is  destined  to  transform  it,  and  make  its  wilder- 
ness like  Eden,  and  its  deserts  like  the  garden  of 
the  Loj'd.  It  is  honored  and  immortalized  as  the 
theatre  of  this  wondrous  work.  Nor  is  there  a  son 
or  dauofhter  of  Adam  who  makes  its  messas^es  wel- 
come,  but  is  immortalized  from  this  wondrous  alli- 
ance to  the  incarnate  Deity,  and  these  great  achieve- 
ments of  redeeming  love.  "Of  Zion  it  shall  be 
said,  This  and  that  man  was  born  in  her,  and  the 
highest  himself  shall  establish  her.  The  Lord  shall 
count,  when  he  writeth  up  the  people,  that  this 
man  was  born  there."  Honored  genealogy,  that 
traces  it*  lineage  to  the  house  of  God !  Earthly 
princes  rarely  boast  of  it.  Not  many  mighty,  not 
many  noble,  bear  the  armorial  ensigns  of  the  sanc- 
tuary ;  yet  the  poorest  may  claim  them,  and  sparkle 
in  his  coronet  who  wears  many  crowns.  This  re- 
demption stamps  a  value  on  these  Christian  privi- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  107 

leges,  great  as  the  worth  of  the  soul  and  the  glories 
of  eternity. 

2.  This  redemption,  in  the  second  place,  magni- 
fies the  office  of  tJie  Christian  ministry.  This  may 
not  seem  the  most  modest  remark  from  lips  that 
minister  at  tlie  altar.  Yet  it  was  not  egotism  in 
the  apostle  Paul  to  "  magnify  his  office."  Nor  may 
it  be  deemed  presumption  for  him  who  addresses 
you  to  put  a  high  estimate  upon  an  office  which 
sustains  so  intimate  a  relation  to  God's  great  work 
of  redeeming  mercy.  When  we  say  it  is  God's 
own  appointment,  and  for  the  purpose  of  cooperat- 
ing with  him  in  carrying  into  execution  that  all- 
comprehensive  and  glorious  work  of  redeeming 
mercy,  we  have  said  only  that  which  God  has  re- 
vealed. It  pleased  God  "by  the  foolishness  of 
preaching  to  save  them  that  believe."  What  higher 
encomium  on  the  ministerial  office  than  is  contained 
in  this  single  sentence  !  Well  do  we  know  that  it 
has  its  trials,  its  solicitudes,  its  discouragements,  its 
dependencies,  its  exposures,  and  above  all,  its  tre- 
mendous responsibilities.  Never  is  it  relieved  from 
that  fearful  burden,  that  to  some  we  are  the  "  savor 
of  life  unto  life,  and  to  some  the  savor  of  death 
unto  death ;"  and  never  will  it  be  otherwise  than 
that,  if  we  prove  faithless,  the  blood  of  those  who 
die  in  their  iniquity  "  will  be  required  at  our 
hands."  The  fact  that  the  piety,  the  intelligence, 
the  usefulness  of  every  church  stand  abreast  with 


108  BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

the  piety,  the  intelligence,  the  usefulness  of  their 
minister ;  that  their  spiritual  and  intellectual  at- 
tainments rise  and  fall  with  his ;  that  if  he  walks 
with  God  and  drinks  into,  the  spiiit  of  his  divine 
Master,  so  will  their  hearts  be  filled  with  these 
glowing  graces ;  that  if  his  study  is  deserted,  and 
his  prayers  and  preaching  become  feeble,  his  peo- 
ple will  become  even  more  feeble  than  their  min- 
ister ; — all  these  show  the  magnitude  of  his  office. 
Yet  the  thousrht  that  mao^nifies  it  most  is  the  near 
relation  it  sustains  to  the  great  redemption  of  the 
Son  of  God.  The  privilege  and  blessedness  of 
sympathizing  with  the  High  Priest  of  the  Chris- 
tian profession  in  his  devotement  to  the  glory 
of  his  Father ;  in  his  love  for  the  souls  of  men ; 
in  his  consecration  to  interests  hiofher  than  his 
own ;  and  in  his  expectations,  honors,  and  reward, 
— these  are  the  immunities  of  the  sacred  office. 
It  is  no  ordinary  privilege  to  be  laid  under  the 
necessity  of  cultivating  an  intimacy  with  those  re- 
vealed principles  of  truth  and  morals  which  lie 
at  the  foundation  of  the  Christian  system,  and 
which  are  inwoven  with  all  holy  character  on  earth 
and  in  heaven.  The  business  of  a  gospel  minister 
is  with  the  Bible,  there  to  acquaint  himself  with 
the  only  living  and  l^rue  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  he  has  sent ;  his  views  the  sweeter,  as  his 
faith  is  the  more  intense ;  the  brighter,  as  they  are 
the  more  enlarged ;  the  more  sure  and  undoubted, 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  109 

as  they  corflially  embrace  the  great  elements  and 
relations  of  this  redemption.  I  honor  other  pro- 
fessions ;  but  there  is  no  service  so  important,  so 
delightful,  so  honorable,  as  to  be  thus  associated 
with  the  great  prophet  of  the  Christian  profession, 
in  the  midst  of  those  wondrous  scenes  and  truths 
and  realities  so  intimately  associated  with  the  man- 
ifold glory  of  God  and  the  progressive  conquests 
of  his  reigning  Son.  Statesmen  may  envy  such  a 
service.  Monarchs  on  their  thrones  are  not  so 
fiivored  as  the  minister  of  Christ.  No  laurels  re- 
tain their  freshness  like  those  he  is  permitted  to 
entwine  around  the  head  of  his  divine  Lord.  Go, 
ye  who  minister  at  God's  altar !  go  and  proclaim 
salvation  to  dying  men !  Go,  tell  the  weary  and 
heavy-laden,  the  tempest-tost  and  the  desponding, 
of  him  who  is  a  hiding-place  from  the  storm !  Go, 
search  out  the  mysteries  of  this  redemption,  and 
with  every  new  truth  illustrated,  and  every  new 
subject  of  its  transforming  power,  let  your  own 
heart  and  lips  respond,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  high- 
est ;  and  on  earth  peace  and  good  will  to  men ! " 

Had  my  own  allotment  been  a  less  favored  one,  I 
hope  I  could  say,  "  I  thank  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
for  that  he  counted  me  faithful,  putting  me  into 
the  ministry."  "Would  that  I  had  been,  and  were 
more  worthy  of  the  office ;  but  I  am  more  than 
satisfied  that  I  am  a  minister  of  Christ.  I  never 
desired  a  higher  station  than  to  be  the  servant  of 


110  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

the  church  for  Jesus'  sake.  I  ask  no  more  of  the 
world,  nor  of  the  church,  nor  of  God  my  Saviour, 
if  he  will  but  make  me  faithful  unto  death,  and 
give  me  a  crown  of  life.  When  I  think  of  the 
work  itself  in  which  I  have  been  so  long  employed, 
I  count  "  the  laurels  of  a  Caesar  weeds,"  compared 
with  the  honors  of  the  humblest  minister  of  the 
everlasting  gospel.     Our  subject,  then, 

3.  In  the  last  place  leads  us  to  a  brief  review  of 
my  oivn  prolonged  ministry  among  tliis  people.  I 
have  many  things  to  say,  and  many  which  I  must 
suppress.  Fifty  years  ago  this  Sabbath  I  first  occu- 
pied the  pulpit  of  the  Brick  church  as  your  pastor. 
I  remember  the  day  well ;  some  four  or  five  of  you 
remember  it,  when,  in  a  crowded  assembly  of  those 
who  now  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth,  I  bowed 
my  knees  before  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  received  this  sacred  trust  from 
him,  "  through  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the 
Presbytery."  To  me  it  was  a  solemn  day,  and  asso- 
ciated with  a  sense  of  responsibility  which  followed 
me  through  the  whole  of  my  ministry.  The  half 
century  is  gone ;  gone,  like  the  dying  cadence  of 
distant  minstrelsy  as  it  vibrates  into  air;  gone, 
like  the  phantom  which  in  prospect  had  the  sem- 
blance of  reality,  but  which  in  the  retrospect  has 
melted  away  ;  gone,  like  some  small  star  that  has 
been  twinkling  on  the  curtain  of  the  night ;  gone, 
like  the  leaves  which  the  wind  of  autumn  has  swept 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  Ill 

away ;  gone,  like  clouds  whicli  vanish  into  air,  af- 
ter they  have  exhausted  their  treasures  upon  the 
land  ;  gone,  as  the  word  just  spoken,  for  good  or 
for  evil,  never  to  be  recalled ;  gone,  as  yesterday 
is  gone : — all,  all  have  vanished  one  by  one  into  the 
mysterious  past.  Yet,  short  and  rapid  as  has  been 
the  flight  of  these  fifty  years,  they  form  an  event- 
ful period.  The  wheels  of  providence  have  been 
revolving,  sometimes  high  and  terribly,  sometimes 
in  circles  bright  and  radiant ;  while  those  who 
have  been  spectators  of  these  varied  scenes,  only 
wonder  at  the  changes  which  a  few  short  years 
have  wrought,  and  gratefully  admire  the  wisdom 
and  goodness  of  him  who  is  so  rapidly  preparing 
the  agencies  by  which  the  final  consummation  of 
all  things  is  hastening  on.  God's  plans  are  large 
and  comprehensive.  His  great  heart  is  set  upon 
the  fulfilment  of  his  gracious  purpose  to  our  lost 
world.  As  we  have  seen,  all  his  designs  stand  re- 
lated to  this  great  design ;  nor  is  he  slack  concern- 
ing his  promise  as  some  men  count  slackness.  "  My 
Father  worketh  hitherto,"  says  the  Saviour,  "  and 
I  work."  He  is  the  most  diligent  and  efi^ective 
worker  in  the  universe.  His  eye  never  slumbers, 
and  his  arm  is  never  weary.  This  half  century 
bears  testimony  to  the  fitness  and  cooperation  of 
those  second  causes,  both  in  the  material  and 
moral  creation,  by  which  his  gracious  purposes  are 
accomplished.    Epochs  and  events  there  have  been 


112  BEICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

during  its  progress,  which  seemed  at  first  view  to  be 
of  dark  augury,  and  which  threatened  to  put  back 
the  shadow  on  the  dial  of  time,  if  ijot  to  defeat  the 
counsels  of  the  God  only  wise.  But  the  "  Lord  seeth 
not  as  man  seeth."  His  work  never  stands  still — 
never  goes  backward.  Onwaed  is  the  motto  of  the 
uppei*  sanctuary ;  and  as  fast  as  infinite  goodness 
and  wisdom  will  admit,  onward  the  work  goes. 
Within  these  fifty  years,  two  generations  of  men 
have  passed  away.  They  have  done  their  work; 
the  generation  that  followed  them  is  in  training 
for  a  mightier  work  to  come.  Thrones  and  dynas- 
ties have  been  demolished  and  overturned,  and 
new  thrones  and  policies  established  which,  in  de- 
fiance of  the  powers  of  darkness,  contain  the 
germs  and  elements  of  that  "  knowledge  and 
strength  of  salvation"  which  are  destined  to  be 
the  stability  of  the  world.  Science  and  the  arts, 
so  long  held  in  abeyance  because  the  nations  were 
not  prepared  to  employ  them  to  benevolent  ends, 
we  ourselves  have  seen  making  such  progress  as  to 
change  the  face  of  human  affixirs.  We  have  heard, 
indeed,  and  still  hear  of  the  battle  of  the  warrior, 
and  of  garments  rolled  in  blood  ;  but  the  splendor 
of  war  has  vanished.  The  shock  of  armies  no 
longer  lends  its  bewildering  fascinations  to  the 
poet's  numbers;  and  what  is  more,  the  storm  is 
heralding  the  advent  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and 
sweeping   away   those    otherwise   insurmountable 


I 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  113 

barriers  to  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  among 
the  nations.  Let  it  be  recorded  with  fervent  grati- 
tude, that  the  past  fifty  years  have  accomplished 
more  for  the  extension  of  the  gospel  to  the  dis- 
tant heathen,  more  for  the  dissemination  of  God's 
word,  more  for  the  circulation  of  religious  truth, 
more  for  enlightening  the  ignorant  and  elevating 
the  abject  of  our  race,  and  more  for  the  Christian 
occupancy  of  the  talents  God  has  given  his  church, 
than  any  ten  preceding  centuries.  And  they  fur- 
nish, also,  a  delightful  fulfilment  of  the  promise, 
"He  that  watereth  shall  be  watered  himself." 
God's  own  Spirit  has  beein  descending  on  the 
broad  lands  of  Christendom,  pouring  water  upon 
him  that  is  thirsty,  and  floods  upon  the  dry  ground. 
It  has  been  a  great  privilege  to  live  in  such  an 
age  as  this,  and  emphatically  so  to  have  occupied 
the  place  of  a  fellow-worker  with  God  in  the  prose- 
cution of  that  design  for  which  he  stretched  abroad 
the  heavens,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth. 
We  have  no  confidence  in  human  inventions  for 
the  accomplishment  of  the  great  object  for  which 
the  Son  of  God  became  incarnate,  and  died.  Phi- 
losophy, legislation,  science,  different  forms  of  gov- 
ernment, civilization,  socialism,  infidelity,  philan- 
thropy, have  done  their  best  to  eradicate  the  moral 
diseases  of  our  nature,  and  renovate  this  apostate 
world ;  but  the  highest  achievements  they  can  boast 
of,  are  some  slight  modifications  of  its  symptoms, 
8 


114  BRICK  CHUKCH  MEMORIAL. 

while  they  leave  the  deep-seated  plague  untouched. 
The  gospel  alone  is  the  power  of  God  and  the  wis- 
dom of  God,  and  the  living  ministry  is  his  own 
appointed  vehicle  for  conveying  it  to  the  minds  of 
men.  It  is  this  which  gives  such  unmeasured  re- 
sponsibility to  the  position  I  have  been  allowed,  for 
so  long  a  period,  to  hold  among  you  as  your  un- 
worthy pastor. 

I  cannot  be  too  thankful  to  the  Father  of 
mercies  that  I  was  led  to  commence  my  minis- 
try among  you,  under  a  deep  impression  that  it 
it  must  be  a  ministry  of  incessant  watchfulness  and 
toil,  and  that  from  the  outset  my  mind  Avas  never 
bewildered  by  day-dreams  of  leisure  and  repose  in 
the  pastoral  office.  Dr.  Johnson  once  said,  that 
"he  pitied  the  man  who  made  the  Christian  min- 
istry an  easy  work."  Whether  or  not  I  have  made 
it  so,  and  what  have  been  my  motives  in  laboring 
among  you,  is  not  for  me  to  decide.  God  is  wit- 
ness that  my  work  has  been  my  joy,  and  most  my 
joy  when  it  has  been  most  severe.  I  did  not  enter 
the  ministry  as  a  secular  calling,  but  because  I 
loved, — nay,  if  you  will  pardon  me  for  saying  it, — 
because  I  was  enamored  of  the  gospel.  I  did  not 
enter  it  for  its  honor,  nor  for  its  wealth.  I  sought  a 
rural  charge ;  but  God  sent  me  among  the  wealthy 
and  bountiful,  who  adopted  me  in  my  youth,  and 
have  not  forsaken  me  in  my  old  age.  I  Avas  thrown 
among  religious  teachers  greatly  my  superiors,  and 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  115 

saw  at  a  glance  that  I  had  everything  to  do  if  I 
ever  became  an  able  minister  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. I  could  easily  dazzle  my  audiences,  and 
please  their  imagination,  and  excite  their  emotions, 
by  a  beautiful  tableau  of  words ;  but  when  I  retired 
to  my  chamber  I  could  not  but  ask  myself,  What 
does  it  all  amount  to  f  Much  I  had  to  learn,  in 
order  to  understand,  illustrate,  and  defend  the 
truths  of  the  gospel,  and  enforce  its  duties;  and, 
instead  of  that  blustering  declamation  which  grat- 
ifies without  instructing,  which  creates  a  sensation 
without  sinking  one  thought  into  the  soul,  learn  to 
present  clear  and  forcible  views  of  God's  revealed 
will.  It  is  not  one  truth  merely  that  a  minister  is 
called  to  preach,  or  that  the  people  ought  to  hear, 
but "  the  whole  counsel  of  God  " — all  the  truths  and 
all  the  duties  of  the  gospel. 

To  what  extent  the  present  age  is  in  advance  of 
the  past,  in  consequence  of  its  disrelish  for  doctrinal 
preaching,  let  the  limited  acquaintance  with  Chris- 
tian truth  of  the  great  mass,  even  of  the  more  intel- 
ligent laymen,  bear  witness.  The  Bible  everywhere 
insists  on  the  belief  of  the  truth  as  the  basis  of 
Christian  character.  What  men  do  not  believe 
they  cannot  practise.  That  piety  and  those  active 
efforts  cannot  long  be  depended  on  that  do  not 
arise  from  the  love  of  God's  truth.  Let  the  fire  of 
God's  truth  be  withdrawn,  and  though  by  its  own 
momentum  the  sacred  machinery  will  move  a  while, 


116  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

it  is  sure  to  stop.  Men  who  complain  of  doctrinal 
preaching  are  strangers  to  the  worth  and  power 
of  practical  preaching.  When  I  read  the  works  of 
Owen  and  Doddridge,  of  Toplady  and  Baxter,  of 
Howe  and  Chamock,  of  Edwards  and  Chalmers,  of 
Bellamy  and  Dwight,  of  Griffin  and  Nettleton,  of 
Alexander  and  Hodge,  my  conviction  is  strength- 
ened that  the  ministry  which  is  richest  in  the  fruits 
of  holiness  is  richest  in  the  inculcation  of  Christian 
doctrine.  I  do  not  see  how  any  man  can  preach 
practically  who  does  not  preach  doctrinally,  for  the 
obvious  reason  that  Christian  doctrine  is  truth  in 
theory,  and  Christian  practice  is  truth  in  action. 

The  period  of  the  world  which  is  just  opening 
upon  us,  is  the  transition  age  from  a  servile  submis- 
sion to  ecclesiastical  despotism,  and  the  traditions 
of  men  to  the  rights  and  responsibilities  of  private 
judgment ;  from  dominant  wickedness  to  dominant 
piety;  from  indifference  and  inaction  to  spiritual 
life  and  activity ;  from  greedy  selfishness  to  open- 
handed  bounty ;  from  popular  ignorance  to  the  wide 
dissemination  of  God's  word ;  from  the  gospel  at 
home  to  the  gospel  among  all  nations ;  from  gross 
darkness  to  millennial  light  and  glory.  And  we 
feel  most  deeply  that  the  grand  prerequisite  to  such 
an  age  is  a  more  thorough  imbuing  of  the  Christian 
mind  with  the  great  truths  of  the  Bible,  and  an 
honest,  earnest,  and  abounding  deliverance  of  those 
truths  in  distinction  from  all  error,  and  an  intelli- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  117 

gent  reception  of  them  on  the  part  of  the  people. 
If  this  is  no  easy  matter  in  a  city  where  the  toil 
and  perplexities  and  responsibilities  of  business  are 
80  urgent  and  unrelieved,  on  this  veiy  account 
there  is  the  more  reason  that  Christians,  and  espe- 
cially those  who  bear  office  in  the  house  of  God, 
should  cultivate  that  enlarged,  clear,  and  discrim- 
inating acquaintance  with  doctrines  that  shall  not 
only  enable  them  to  distinguish  between  the  pre- 
cious and  the  vile,  but  constrain  them  to  require 
from  their  religious  teachers  a  full  and  elaborate 
exhibition  of  the  rich  and  varied  truths  of  the  glo- 
rious gospel  of  the  blessed  God. 

Of  the  great  object  of  my  ministry,  and  the 
manner  iu  which  it  has  been  pursued,  it  becomes 
me  to  speak  with  more  than  shrinking  diffidence. 
Its  revealed  object  and  method  are  to  save  the 
souls  of  men, — to  make  them  Christians,  and  the 
adornment  of  Christianity.  To  what  extent  I  have 
kept  this  great  object  in  view  will  be  decided  by 
him  who  will,  ere  long,  judge  every  man  accord- 
insr  to  his  work.  Whether  I  have  been  devoted 
to  winning  souls  to  Christ,  or  to  other  and  meaner 
ends ;  whether  I  have  declared  the  whole  counsel 
of  God,  or  have  occupied  my  thoughts  and  youi*s 
on  questions  to  no  profit ;  whether  I  have  sought 
the  praise  of  men  rather  than  the  honor  which 
Cometh  from  God  only,  and  have  been  stimulated 
by  secular  and  worldly  considerations  more  than 


118  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

by  the  love  of  Christ  and  of  tlie  flock  lie  has  com- 
mitted to  my  trust;  whether  I  have  been  influ- 
enced by  the  all-absorbing  desire  to  extend,  and 
build  up,  and  beautify  that  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness and  peace  which  shall  nevcn'  have  an  end,  and 
whether  or  not,  in  being  thus  employed,  I  have 
put  forth  unhallowed  hands  to  the  Ark  of  God,  are 
solemn  questions — questions  which  neither  you 
nor  I  may  trifle  with,  and  which  will  be  decided 
on  that  day  when  appearances  will  not  pass  for 
reality,  and  nothing  will  stand  the  test  but  truth.  I 
confess  these  are  inquiries  which,  in  this  review  of 
my  ministry,  I  am  led  to  look  at  with  mingled  solici- 
tude and  hope.  You  have  doubtless  seen  that  in 
me  and  in  my  public  ministrations  which  has 
obscured  the  light  and  glory  of  the  gospel  I  have 
preached.  I  implore  God's  forgiveness  for  it  all, 
and  beg  him  that  it  may  not  be  laid  to  your 
charge.  I  am  deeply  sensible  that  in  my  public 
services  there  has  been  the  want  of  a  Christlike 
spirit  and  tenderness ;  and  that,  not  unfrequently, 
in  my  daily  intercourse  with  you,  when  I  should 
have  been  a  living  epistle,  known  and  rfead  of  all 
men,  and  should  have  carried  "  the  bundle  of 
myrrh "  in  my  bosom,  I  have  savored,  not  the 
things  that  be  of  God,  but  the  things  that  be  of 
men.  Oh  !  hateful  sins,  that  thus  mar  the  sacred 
ministry,  and  cast  their  shadow  over  the  reminis- 
cences of  such  a  day  as  this  !  I  have  but  one  refuge : 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  119 

"  In  my  hand  no  price  I  bring, 
Simply  to  thy  Cross  I  cling." 

My  obligations  to  the  God  of  providence  and 
grace  are  in  every  view  boundless.  He  cared  for  me 
in  my  cliildhood,  and  kindly  gave  me  tbe  watchful 
supervision  of  Christian  parents  and  a  Christian 
training.  He  cared  for  me  in  my  youth,  and  not 
only  restrained  me  from  the  excesses  of  youthful 
folly  and  passion,  but  gave  me  the  opjjortunity, 
and  directed  my  mind  to  the  attainment  of  useful 
knowledge.  He  raised  me  up  friends  when  I  most 
needed  them ;  he  encouraged  me  in  my  despond- 
ency ;  and  when  I  wandered  from  him,  brought 
me  into  his  fold.  And  he  put  me  into  the  minis- 
try, and  made  me  the  pastor  of  this  beloved  flock. 
When  I  came  among  you,  I  thought  it  doubtful  if 
I  should  remain  a  single  year ;  but  he  has  kept 
me  here  fifty  years.  In  the  midday  of  human 
life  and  in  old  age  he  has  cared  for  me,  and 
kept  my  feet  from  falling  and  my  soul  from  death. 
He  has  allowed  me  to  pursue  my  delightful  work 
with  no  inconsiderable  success.  He  has  given 
me  seals  to  my  ministry,  which,  if  my  motives 
have  been  right,  will  be  my  crown  of  rejoicing 
in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  He  has  given 
me  the  love  and  confidence  of  a  united  people, 
and  with  these  tokens  of  his  favor,  has  also  given 
me  "  all  things  richly  to  enjoy."  From  year  to 
year  he  has  been  mindful  of  me,  though  I  have 


120  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

SO  often  been  unmindful  of  him,  I  have  said  that 
he  has  given  me  all  things  richly  to  enjoy ;  and  I 
am  happy  to  say  that  he  has  made  you  his  almo- 
ners. Your  hearts,  your  hands,  have  been  the  dis- 
pensers of  his  bounty — the  more  valued  that  such 
have  been  the  loved  channels  through  which  it  has 
flowed.  These  tokens  of  your  kindness  have  made 
an  impression  on  my  mind  which  it  will  be  difficult 
to  erase.  There  are  trials  in  the  ministry ;  but  it 
has  also  its  endearments.  Scenes  and  memories  like 
these  reflect  their  rays  backward,  and  diflPuse  them 
around  us,  and  throw  them  onward  to  cheer  those 
pensive  scenes  that  must  soon  surround  us  all.  I 
am  looking  for  them  as  near  at  hand ;  and  while  I 
desire  to  make  good  use  of  my  last  days  among 
you,  I  know  they  must  be  few.  I  bless  God  that 
I  do  not  feel  bound  to  the  world  as  my  home,  but 
am  more  and  more  sensible  that  I  am  a  pilgrim  and 
a  stranger  on  the  earth.  Would  that  my  aspirings 
after  another  and  better  habitation  were  invigorated 
in  the  same  proportion  as  the  delusions  of  earth  van- 
ish !  I  would  not  build  my  tabernacle  here ;  it  is 
not  among  the  promises  and  expectations  of  time 
that  I  look  for  my  resting-place. 

JSotwithstanding  the  reminiscences  contained  in 
the  discourse  delivered  at  the  closing  service  in  the 
old  church,  we  may  not  suppress  all  notice  of  the 
endeared  edifice  where  the  greater  part  of  these 
fifty  years  has  been  employed.     We  shall  not  for- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  121 

get  that  time-lionored  temple  of  our  God  and  our 
fathers'  God.  We  will  carry  the  rememhrance 
through  the  remnant  of  our  pilgrimage ;  it  shall 
be  inmingled  with  our  sweetest  thoughts  and 
hopes,  when  things  earthly  are  forgotten  and  the 
unearthly  are  remembered  ;  and  though  they  flow 
from  "joys  that  are  past,"  they  shall  not  be 
"mournful  to  the  soul."  We  will  carry  this 
remembrance  to  our  dying  pillow,  and  it  shall 
strengthen  us  upon  the  bed  of  languishing.  We 
will  carry  it  beyond  the  grave,  and  we  will  dwell 
upon  it  at  the  bar  of  judgment.  We  love  to  look 
back  upon  these  scenes.  There  were  drops  there 
upon  the  pastures  of  the  wilderness;  sometimes 
falling  drop  by  drop,  sometimes  condensed  in 
clouds,  and  sometimes  rolling  on  like  the  river 
which  makes  glad  the  city  of  our  God.  We  can- 
not help  looking  back  upon  them  with  something 
like  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  aged  warrior 
surveys  the  field  of  battles  fought  and  victories 
won, — chastened,  indeed,  elevated,  hallowed  by  the 
thought  that  they  were  victories  won  in  the  cause 
of  truth  and  righteousness,  and  by  a  mightier  than 
human  arm.  Beloved  sanctuary!  There  we  were 
wont  to  carry  our  temporal  as  well  as  our  spiritual 
troubles,  and  there  were  we  led  to  the  Rock  that 
is  higher  than  we.  Oh !  how  often,  as  the  wing  of 
the  pestilence  overshadowed  us,  and  the  sun  smote 
us  by  day  and  the  moon  by  night,  have  we  found 


122  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

there  tlie  shadow  of  the  great  Rock  in  a  weary 
land.  Blessed,  thrice  blessed  sanctuary,  where  He 
that  walketh  amid  the  golden  candlesticks,  and 
holds  the  stars  in  his  right  hand,  made  the  place 
of  his  feet  glorious  !  And  that  memorable  study — 
so  embowered,  so  retired  and  tranquil  amid  noise 
and  uproar,  where  a  desponding  heart  was  so  often 
relieved  by  the  promise,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient 
for  thee ;  "  where  the  old  and  the  young  so  often 
resorted  for  consultation  and  prayer ;  where  vol- 
ume after  volume  of  God's  truth  was  thrown  out 
upon  the  world ;  where  the  memorials  of  the 
divine  faithfulness  outnumbered  even  the  memo- 
rials of  man's  infirmity ;  where  so  many  wiped 
away  their  tears  and  began  their  everlasting  song : 
— Oh !  it  was  the  house  of  God  and  the  gate  of 
heaven !  I  had  thought  we  had  left  it  forever ; 
but  we  revisit  it  to-day :  the  past  instructs  us  ;  we 
retrace  the  footsteps  of  him  who  dwells  with  man 
on  the  earth  ;  we  listen  to  the  declaration  coming 
back  to  us  from  those  ruined  walls,  "  In  all  places 
where  I  record  my  name,  I  will  come  unto  thee,  I 
will  bless  thee."  Our  locality  is  changed,  but  the 
promise  remains.  God  grant  that  our  character  as 
a  church  may  not  change,  except  to  growing  grace 
and  knowledge  and  usefulness !  We  have  gained 
much  by  the  change  of  locality ;  it  was  a  struggle 
to  effect  it,  and  has  been  one  of  the  important  ob- 
jects secui'ed  by  this  ministry.     In  prospect  I  re- 


BEICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  123 

garded  it  as  the  last  great  effort  of  my  life ;  yet 
strange  to  say,  at  the  advanced  age  of  threescore 
and  fifteen  years  I  find  that  my  work  is  not  done. 
I  welcome  it  still,  and  as  gladly  as  in  the  days  of 
my  youth.  It  is  "God's  favor  to  one  sufficiently  ill- 
deserving,  to  be  permitted  to  bear  an  equal  part 
in  these  pulpit  ministrations  with  my  more  vigor- 
ous associate,  aud  to  see  this  beautiful  edifice  not 
only  completed,  but  filled  to  overflowing.  Of  all 
the  ministers  of  the  gospel  in  this  land,  none  has 
greater  reason  for  thankfulness  to  the  God  of  the 
sanctuary  than  he  who  now  addresses  you.  I  can 
scarcely  bring  myself  to  believe  that  the  j^resent 
discourse  is  the  fiftieth  anniversary  service  I  have 
been  permitted  to  enjoy  among  this  people.  These 
fifty  anniversary  discourses — what  a  history  of  God's 
dealings  with  the  Brick  church  and  its  pastor, 
fraught  with  some  reflections  that  are  painful,  but 
with  more  that  are  joyous,  and  in  their  varied 
character  calling  for  mingled  emotions  of  sadness 
and  praise ! 

It  is  with  such  emotions,  my  beloved  friends, 
that  I  address  you  to-day.  The  nearer  I  approach 
the  time  of  my  departure,  the  more  deeply  do  I  feel 
interested  for  your  welfiire;  the  more  do  I  love 
you,  and  long  for  you  all  in  the  bowels  of  Jesus 
Christ:  I  can  truly  say  with  the  apostle  John,  "  I 
have  no  greater  joy  than  to  know  that  my  children 
walk  in  the  truths  Oh  !  may  the  seed  that  has  been 


124  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

planted  here,  be  diligently  and  faithfully  watered 
by  Mm  who  is  associated  with  me  in  the  pastoral 
office.  My  earnest  prayer  for  this  dear  flock  has 
been,  that  God  would  give  them  a  pastor  after  his 
own  heart,  who  should  feed  them  with  knowledge 
and  understanding.  It  would  be  no  small  grief  to 
me  to  go  to  my  grave,  and  leave  this  people  with- 
out a  laborious,  instructive,  faithful  ministry.  Our 
hearts,  our  studies,  our  consultations  ought  often  to 
mingle  together,  that  the  souls  committed  to  our 
trust  may  be  saved.  The  great  difficulty  ministers 
find  in  preaching  the  gospel  is,  to  lose  sight  of  self. 
When  we  can  lose  sight  of  ourselves,  and  be  ab- 
sorbed in  the  truths  we  utter ;  when  we  can  rise 
above  this  wicked  love  of  praise,  and  our  minds 
are  wrought  up  to  speak  for  Ood^  we  always  find 
that  we  then  have  communion  with  him ;  and  when 
we  have  communion  with  him  in  our  discourses  as 
well  as  in  our  prayers,  we  never  fail  to  come  near 
the  consciences  and  hearts  of  the  people.  How 
sweet  such  Sabbaths !  O  for  more  of  the  Saviour's 
compassion  and  love  to  the  perishing!  The  Great 
Shepherd  marks  every  step  that  we  take,  hears 
every  prayer  we  offer,  and  every  sermon  we  preach. 
"We  have  but  to  walk  with  God,  and  he  shall  sup- 
ply all  our  need  according  to  the  riches  of  his  glory 
in  Christ  Jesus. 

I  will  utter  but  a  single  thought  more.     Not  a 
few  who  hear  me,  these  hands  and  these  lips  have 


BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL.  125 

baptized  into  the  Christian  faith.  You  were  my 
catechumens,  learnei*3  of  promise,  and  once  bade  fair 
for  the  kingdom  of  God.  I  see  you  now  heads  of 
families.  I  have  performed  the  same  sweet  office 
toward  the  children  God  has  given  you.  Yet  I  see 
you  negligent  and  thoughtless,  restraining  prayer 
before  God,  turning  your  back  upon  the  cross  of 
Christ,  and  more  than  ever  lightly  esteeming  the 
Rock  of  your  salvation.  I  know  not  what  more  to 
say  to  you  that  I  have  not  already  said.  This  voice 
you  will  listen  to  but  a  little  while.  It  is  with  pain 
that  I  utter  one  hard  thought  in  this  discourse. 
Yet  I  may  not  suppress  the  sentence  that  if  this 
ministry  of  fifty  years  may  prove  a  savor  of  death 
unto  death,  rude  will  the  settlement  be  of  wrath 
against  the  day  of  wrath.  Will  you  not  seize  these 
passing  hours  ?  You  will  soon  be  crushed  before 
the  moth,  and  in  the  day  of  your  visitation  you 
will  need  unearthly  consolations,  and  the  bosom  of 
a  heavenly  Parent  to  lean  upon.  And  if  you  have 
not  this  refuge,  poor  worm  of  the  dust !  your  house 
will  be  left  unto  you  desolate,  and  the  things  that 
belong  to  your  peace  be  hidden  from  your  eyes.  I 
shall  soon  meet  you  at  that  awful  bar,  where  these 
fifty  years  will  be  remembered.  Will  you  not  go 
from  this  house  believers  in  Jesus,  and  live  and  die 
in  peace?  This  is  the  only  ark  of  safety  for  a 
dying  world.  How  sweet  to  be  in  it  when  the 
windows  of  heaven  are  opened,  and  the  deluge  is 


126  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

coming  down !  and  there,  safe  from  tliat  desolating 
storm,  and  in  tteir  contrasted  chords  and  combined 
harmonies,  sing  "  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  song 
of  the  Lamb ! " 


% 


PKOCEEDINGS 


AT    THE 


MEMORIAL    MEETING. 


PEOCEEDINGS 


AT   THB 


MEMORIAL    MEETING. 


The  congregation  of  the  Brick  Church  made  ar- 
rangements, in  August  last,  to  present  a  memorial 
to  their  venerated  pastor  on  the  occasion  of  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  settlement  over  them. 

On  account  of  the  illness  of  Mi-s.  Spring  at  that 
time,  the  meeting  was  postponed  to  the  15th  Oc- 
tober, 1860. 

At  this  time  the  congregation  assembled  for  that 
purpose  in  their  place  of  worship.  At  an  early- 
hour  the  spacious  edifice  was  filled  to  its  utmost 
capacity. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Shepheed 
Knapp,  Esq.,  who  opened  the  meeting  with  the  fol- 
lowing remarks : — 

We  have  assembled,  my  respected  friends,  first 
of  all,  as  I  trust,  to  render  to  Almighty  God 
9 


130  BRICK   CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

thanks  for  having  permitted  so  many  of  us  to  meet 
this  evening  to  witness  the  scene  we  have  here 
before  us  ;  and  secondly,  to  pay  a  tribute  of  respect 
to  our  beloved  pastor,  who  has,  for  more  than  half 
a  century,  broken  to  us  so  satisfactorily  the  bread 
of  life.  And  now,  in  order,  that  our  proceedings 
may  assume  the  proper  form,  I  move  that  Hokace 
HoLDEN,  Esq.,  be  requested  to  take  the  chair. 

The  resolution  was  adopted. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Knapp,  Augustus  Whitlock 
and  George  De  Forest  Lord,  Esqrs.,  were  appointed 
Secretaries. 

The  ChairmajST  on  taking  the  chair  spoke  as  fol- 
lows : — I  thank,  you  my  friends,  for  calling  me  to 
preside  upon  this  occasion.  I  esteem  it  one  of  the 
sweetest  privileges  of  my  life  to  be  permitted,  in 
the  good  providence  of  God,  to  see  this  night. 
We  have  met  as  a  great,  affectionate,  and  united 
family,  to  express  to  our  beloved  pastoi*,  on  this, 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  settlement  over  us, 
our  undiminished  confidence  and  affection. 

As  has  been  properly  remarked  by  my  Brother 
Knapp,  in  introducing  these  exercises,  devout  grati- 
tude and  thanks  should  be  first  given  to  Almighty 
God  for  the  continuance  of  his  care  and  provi- 
dence toward  this  people,  and  especially  for  having 
preserved  to  us  the  uninterrupted  services  of  our 
beloved  pastor  from  the  commencement  of  his 
ministry  to  the  present  hour. 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  131 

The  Eev.  Dr.  Phillips,  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian church,  being  then  called  u];)on  by  the 
Chairman  for  that  purpose,  offered  prayer  and 
thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God,  appropriate  to  the 
interesting  occasion. 

After  the  prayer,  Mr.  Holden  continued  his  ad- 
dress as  follows : — 

Before  proceeding  to  the  principid  duties  of  this 
evening,  and  the  service  to  be  performed  by  my 
brother  Lord,  I  may  be  indulged  in  a  few  words 
to  you,  my  revered  pastor — the  friend  of  my  youth 
— of  my  middle  life — and  of  my  grey  hairs. 

It  is  not  at  all  probable  that  one  of  this  vast  as- 
sembly will  ever  witness  another  such  occasion  as 
this.  Some  of  us,  who  have  enjoyed  the  advantages 
of  your  ministry  for  half  a  century,  from  the  fulness 
of  our  hearts  may  be  allowed  to  speak  with  per- 
fect freedom. 

In  this  country,  of  such  vast  extent,  wonderful 
resources,  and  enterprise,  the  profession  of  the  law 
from  the  very  beginning  of  our  national  existence 
has  always  been  considered  the  surest  passport  to 
fortune  and  to  fame  ! 

To  this  profession,  alike  honorable  and  useful, 
you  had  been  destined  in  early  life.  For  it  you 
had  been  educated,  and  upon  its  arduous  duties 
you  had  entered,  with  every  prospect  of  usefulness 
and  success.  All  its  honors  and  emoluments  were 
spread  out  before  you.    The  future  was  bright  and 


182  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

tempting.  Industry  and  learning,  intellectual  pow- 
ers, and  an  unblemished  moral  character,  were 
capital  enough,  with  which  you  began  your  pro- 
fessional career. 

It  was  at  an  age  of  our  country  and  of  the 
world,  when  there  was  every  thing  in  prospect,  to 
gratify  an  honorable  ambition,  founded  upon  vir- 
tuous principle. 

But,  sir,  we  desire,  here  in  these  courts,  thank- 
fully to  express  our  gratitude  to  Grod,  that  at  this 
interesting  crisis  in  your  history,  you  counted  none 
of  these  things  dear  unto  you,  in  comparison  of 
the  call  of  God,  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Christ. 

I  have  been  consulting  the  Kecords  of  this 
church,  and  I  find,  that  at  this  juncture,  the  Brick 
church  became  disassociated  from  the  First  church. 

The  venerable  Dr.  Rodgers,  then  the  sole  pastor 
of  this  church,  greatly  beloved  for  a  long  life  of 
devotion  in  his  master's  service,  and  bowed  down 
by  the  infirmities  of  age,  was  incapable  of  dis- 
charging the  duties  of  the  pastoral  ofiBce ;  and  the 
congregation  after  various  ineffectual  attempts  to 
agree  upon  the  settlement  of  a  minister,  invited 
you  to  spend  a  Sabbath,  and  preach  for  them. 
This  invitation  was  accepted,  and  on  the  4th  of 
June,  1810,  resulted  in  a  unanimous  call  to  you  to 
become  their  pastor ;  you  gave  an  afiSrmative 
answer  in  the  following  words  : — 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  133 

Andover,  July  6th,  1810. 
*'  To  the  Congregation  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City 
of  Neio  York. 

Dear  Brethren: — ^Your  communication,  con- 
taining a  call  to  me  to  settle  among  you,  as  a  gos- 
pel minister,  has  been  the  subject  of  advice,  prayer 
and  serious  deliberation :  I  hereby  accept  it :  Be- 
lieve me,  dear  brethren,  that  I  feel  thankful  for 
the  unmerited  attention  and  respect,  which  a  call 
from  so  respectable  a  congregation  has  manifested. 

By  the  blessing  of  God,  I  hope  to  be  with  you, 
in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks. 

I  have  given  myself  to  God :  without  recalling 
that  act,  I  now  give  myself  to  you.  Pray  for  me 
fathers  and  brethren  that  I  may  be  sent  in  the 
fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the  gospel  of  peace. 

Wishing  you  grace,  mercy  and  peace  from  God 
our  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  am — 
dear  brethren,  Your  servant  in  the  Lord 

Gardiner  Spring. 

Deriving  no  aid  whatever,  except  the  paternal 
advice  and  counsel  of  your  aged  and  venerable 
associate,  which  you  gratefully  received  and  appre- 
ciated, the  responsibilities  of  a  large  congregation 
were  cast  entirely  upon  you. 

^  The  next  year,  the  respected  and  venerable 
Rodgers  was  gathered  to  his  father^s ;  and  thence- 
forward you  were  to  stand  alone — and  you  girded 
yourself  for  the  combat.     Of  all  the  venerable 


184  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

men  (includiDg  Miller^  JRomeyn^  Milledoler  and 
Perine)  who  assisted  in  your  ordination  and  instal- 
lation, not  one  remains. 

Here  and  there,  is  a  solitary  individual  who 
stood  by  your  side,  when  your  brown  locks,  shaded 
the  brow  of  your  youthful  prime,  and  who  beheld 
your  rising  strength,  and  who  have  unceasingly 
rejoiced  in  your  increasing  usefulness. 

Amid  all  the  changes  we  have  witnessed  in 
church  and  state, — all  the  conflicts  of  opinion,  and 
strife  of  parties,  we  have  had  reason  to  rejoice  in 
your  firm  and  unwavering  consistency — and,  now, 
that  time  has  gently  laid  its  hand  upon  you,  and 
your  silvered  locks  bespeak  the  length  of  your  faith- 
ful services.  We  praise  the  God  of  Heaven,  and  give 
joyful  thanks,  that  you  are  still.able,  in  the  matur- 
ity of  your  intellectual  vigor,  and  without  inter- 
ruption to  preach  the  same  glorious  gospel,  in  all 
its  simplicity  and  purity — in  all  its  richness  and 
power. 

At  the  commencement  of  your  ministry  among 
us,  the  City  contained  about  one  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants.  Its  numbers  now  approach  nearly  to 
a  million.  During  this  period,  you  have  seen 
several  generations  pass  off  the  stage. 

In  the  venerable  old  edifice,  where  for  so  long 
a  time  we  were  accustomed  to  worship,  you  were 
allowed  for  forty-six  years  to  hold  forth,  the  words 
of  eternal  life  to  multitudes  now  scattered  through- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  135 

out  tliis  city,  tmd  all  over  this  broad  land.  They 
still  live  to  record  with  thankfulness  their  obliga- 
tions, and  in  spirit  are  with  us  here  to-day — and 
far  greater  multitudes,  having  received  the  truth 
in  love,  have  departed  in  the  faith  and  hopes  of 
the  gospel. 

In  view  of  our  intimate,  profitable  and  happy 
relations,  "  which  time  has  made  venerable,  friend- 
ship sweet,  and  religion  sacred,"  this  people  grate- 
fully embrace  the  opportunity,  which  this  fiftieth 
anniversary  affords,  of  testifying  to  you  their  affec- 
tionate attachment. 

I  hope  that  I  shall  be  excused,  if  on  this  occa- 
sion, I  take  the  liberty  of  stating,  the  providential 
circumstances  that  first  led  my  youthful  footsteps 
to  the  old  Brick  church,  because  I  shall  describe  the 
experience  of  many  others. 

In  1809,  just  one  year  preceding  your  settlement, 
I  came,  an  inexperienced  youth  to  this  city  to  study 
my  profession.  Although  originally  a  Presbyte- 
rian by  education,  I  had  been  for  a  season  in  the 
habit  of  worshipping  in  an  Episcopal  church ;  so 
that  on  my  arrival  here,  with  prayerbook  in  hand, 
I  was  attracted  by  the  earnest  zeal  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.,  afterwards  Bishop  Hobart.  Every  Sabbath 
found  me  regularly  in  the  gallery  of  old  Trinity. 

It  so  happened,  that  I  was  seldom  fortunate 
enough  to  hear  my  favorite  preacher ;  I  had  not 
leanied  the  routine  of  their  collegiate  mutations, 


186  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

SO  that  I  was  frequently  a  hearer  of  some  one,  not 
so  captivating  to  my  youthful  fancy. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Eomeyn  had  then  been  settled  in 
Cedar  street  about  one  year.  I  was  induced  to  go 
and  hear  him,  and  soon  became  a  regular  attendant 
in  the  gallery  of  his  church. 

In  1810,  Dr.  Mason  on  resigning  his  pastoral 
charge  in  Cedar  Street  (between  Nassau  Street 
and  Broadway)  occupied  Dr.  Romeyn's  pulpit  at 
half-past  twelve  o'clock  at  noon,  and  in  the  even- 
ing. 

Here  it  was  my  happiness  first  to  hear,  that 
justly  celebrated  preacher.  I  followed  him  to  his 
new  church  in  Murray  street,  and  was  one  of  his 
constant  hearers  and  admirers. 

Just  then  New  England  was  convulsed  with  the 
uprising  of  Unitarianism — and  you  may  well  sup- 
pose, that  the  anathemas  of  Dr.  Mason,  were  not 
tame  or  infrequent  against  that  monstrous  heresy ; 
and  there  are  some  who  will  never  forget  his  severe 
denunciations  also,  of  New  England  divinity,  and 
his  unmistakable  allusions  to  a  certain  rising  preach- 
er, who  was  suspected  of  favoring  some  peculiar 
views  of  the  New  England  school.  So  captivated 
was  I  by  the  matchless  eloquence  of  Dr.  Mason, 
that,  without  at  first  being  conscious  of  the  fact,  I 
contracted  so  strong  a  prejudice  against  you,  whose 
face  1  had  never  seen,  that  I  could  not  bear  even 
to  hear  the  sound  of  the  old  Brick  Church  bell. 


h 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  137 

Inexperienced  youth  as  I  was,  I  sliall  be  pardoned 
— ^for  I  repented. 

In  justice  to  Dr.  Mason,  it  becomes  me  to  say, 
that  afterwards  he  became  better  acquainted  with 
the  young  New  England  divine,  and  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  him  an  interested  listener  to  your 
preaching  in  the  old  Brick  Church. 

In  1814,  Stephen  Dodge^  a  member  of  this  church, 
(I  mention  his  name  because  his  Christian  fidelity 
deserves  to  be  recorded,)  met  me  in  the  street,  and 
invited  me  to  accompany  him  to  your  TJiursday 
evening  Lecture.  I  had  never  attended  an  evening 
religious  lecture :  I  could  not  resist  his  polite  en- 
treaty. He  called  for  me.  He  took  me  to  the  old 
White  Lecture-room,  and  seated  me  near  the  pulpit 
among  the  elders.  The  place  was  full.  It  was  a 
new  scene  to  me.  I  well  remember  the  very  spot  I 
occupied  on  that  memorable  evening ;  and  well  do 
I  remember  the  text,  "If  thou.  Lord,  shouldest 
mark  iniquities,  O  Lord,  who  shall  stand  ? "  At  the 
end  of  the  meeting  all  my  prejudices  had  vanished, 
— and  from  that  night  forward  I  became  a  regular 
attendant  upon  your  ministry.  That  lecture  decid- 
ed all  my  future.  It  becomes  me,  with  unfeigned 
humility  and  deep  shame,  to  confess  what  a  misera- 
ble improvement  I  have  made  of  the  inestimable 
privilege  of  listening  to  the  gospel  from  your  lips 
for  forty-six  years ;  and  yet  I  must,  before  all  these 
witnesses,  gratefully  acknowledge  that  for  all  I 


138  BRICK   CHUECH   MEMORIAL. 

know  of  religious  truth,  I  am  indebted,  under  God, 
to  you. 

It  is  no  difficult  matter  to  discover  the  secret  of 
the  success  which  has  attended  your  ministry.  We 
would  not  "offend  your  Christian  humility,"  nor 
indulge  in  a  boastful  spirit,  in  reviewing  the  past ; 
but  gratitude  to  God  requires  us  to  acknowledge 
the  means  which  he  has  blessed  in  making  your 
ministry  eminently  successful.  Your  mind^  in  all 
its  powers  and  faculties,  moral  and  intellectual,  has 
been  cultivated  with  the  greatest  assiduity,  and  you 
have  habitually  shown  that  you  had  a  high  and 
grand,  as  well  as  single  aim,  in  preaching  the  gospel. 

Your  studies  have  not  only  been  thorough,  sys- 
tematic, and  profound,  but  various  and  extensive. 
Thus  qualified,  your  object  has  been,  not  only  to 
enlighten  the  understanding,  but  to  reach  the  hearts 
and  consciences  of  men, — that  our  fallen  nature 
might  be  redeemed,  purified,  and  ennobled,  and 
immortal  souls  fitted  for  heaven. 

In  -YOxSiX  preacliing  you  have  always  exalted  God, 
and  abased  the  sinner.  You  have  not  failed  to 
show  men  their  dependence  and  their  personal  ill- 
desert.  And  how  faithfully  have  you  opened  to 
them  clear  views  of  the  way  of  Redemption  through 
Jesus  Christ !  This  has  been  done,  with  unwonted 
tenderness,  fidelity,  and  affection,  under  a  deep  im- 
pression of  divine  truth,  and  with  a  fervent  desire 
to  win  souls  to  Christ. 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  139 

It  has  often  been  matter  of  amazement  to  others, 
how  a  young  man  with  so  short  a  preparation  (even 
with  your  intellectual  furniture)  could  have  taken 
the  entire  charge  of  so  large  a  congregation,  and 
maintained  your  position  among  the  eminent 
preachei^  who  adorned  the  pulpit  of  1810. 

To  a  few  who  remain,  who  knew  the  habits  of 
your  early  and  later  yeai*s,  and  who  have  watched 
your  course,  the  secret  of  your  success  is  I'eadily 
told.  With  your  untiring  industry,  you  have  alway^s 
borne  in  mind,  and- humbly  and  gratefully  acknowl- 
edged, your  entire  dependence  upon  the  gracious 
influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Your  conduct  arid  life  have  always  shown  what 
a  high  estimate  you  placed  upon  the  services  of  the 
sanctuary;  and  upon  carefully  prepared  written 
discoui-ses  for  the  Sabbath.  If  the  exercises  of  the 
pulpit  were  not  sustained  habitually  and  respecta- 
bly, it  was  easy  to  see,  that  in  your  view  nothing 
could  supply  the  defect. 

God  has  appointed  the  Pulpit  as  the  chief  instru- 
mentality for  the  salvation  of  men,  and  we  have 
been  taught  by  you,  from  our  youth  up,  that  it 
deservedly  holds  the  preeminence  over  every  other 
department  of  ministerial  labor. 

Your  whole  life  has  exemplified  this  truth.  You 
have  not  been  satisfied  with  flashy  discourees. 
You  have  taught  us  that  tJiat  preaching  is  best 
which  displays  the  most  of  God.     You  have  mag- 


140  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

nified  your  office  in  making  everything  subserve  the 
pulpit,  and  have  shown  to  us  the  wide  difference 
between  the  eloquence  of  words  and  the  eloquence 
of  thought. 

In  order  that  the  pulpit  should  exert  its  appro- 
priate influence,  I  can  triumphantly  inquire,  Have 
you  not  striven  to  feel  an  interest  in  every  subject 
presented  to  your  people  ?  Have  you  not  always 
aimed  to  be  full  of  your  theme  ?  How  have  you 
thoroughly  studied  it !  How  have  you  prayed  over 
it !  How  deeply  has  the  subject  of  every  sermon 
penetrated  your  own  heart,  and  like  the  electric 
spark,  how  has  it  kindled  the  flame  of  devotion  in 
the  hearts  of  your  hearers ;  you  have  not  affected 
a  warmth  you  did  not  feel ;  and  I  must  not  omit  to 
add.  How  have  all  the  services  of  the  pulpit  been 
distinguished  for  their  elegant  completeness,  sim- 
plicity, and  spirituality!  and  how  have  the  bap- 
tismal font  and  the  communion  table  been  marked 
by  the  most  delicate  and  refined  dignity  and  pro- 
priety ! 

Pastoral  visitation  has  always  received  an  ap- 
propriate share  of  your  attention.  This  you  have 
taught  us  to  esteem  a  valuable  means  of  grace ;  but 
if  pastoral  visitation  or  the  pulpit  must  be  neglected 
the  former  must  give  way. 

There  have  been  times,  many  memorable  seasons 
in  your  history,  when  God,  in  his  infinite  mercy, 
has  been  pleased  to  grant  to  this  people  the  out- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  141 

pouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Tlwi  what  a  delightful 
duty  it  was,  and  how  cheerfully  did  you  improve 
the  privilege,  of  going  from  family  to  family  to  guide 
inquiring  souls,  cheer  the  faint,  comfort  the  feeble- 
minded, to  satiate  the  weary,  and  replenish  the 
sorrowful  soul ! 

In  these  delightful  seasons,  not  one  weary,  heavy- 
laden  sinner  was  ever  overlooked.  There  always 
have  been,  and  always  will  be,  very  pressing,  if  not 
unreasonable  demands  upon  a  minister's  time  for 
pastoral  visitation.  It  would  be  marvellous  indeed, 
if  there  were  not  isolated  instances  in  which  there 
were  not  at  least  apparent  omissions  of  this  duty 
on  your  part.  In  all  my  long  intercourse  with  you 
and  with  the  people  whom  you  have  so  faithfully 
served,  I  do  not  recollect  to  have  heard  of  an  instance 
in  which  a  pastoral  visit  was  neglected,  if  there 
was  any  real  call  for  it,  or  the  least  prospect  of  doing 
any  good. 

Who  was  ever  sick  and  languishing — smitten  of 
God  and  afflicted — that  did  not  receive  your  most 
prompt  attention!  K  sickness  and  death  could 
speak,  what  revelations  would  be  made  of  sweetest 
sympathy — of  the  kindest  and  most  faithful  instruc- 
tions! What  words  of  consolation  and  hope  to 
the  afflicted  and  sorrowful  believer !  How  do  the 
sounds  of  tender,  sweet,  soul-subduing  prayer  stiU 
linger  on  the  ear !  And  when  death  has  come  up 
into  our  windows,  the  sound  of  whose  footsteps 


142  BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL. 

first  broke  upon  our  sad  silence !  Whose  voice  of 
heavenly  consolation  first  soothed  our  bleeding 
hearts ! 

In  a  word,  you  have  always  appropriated  your 
time  in  such  a  way,  in  public  and  in  private,  that 
it  should  accomplish  most  for  the  honor  of  God, 
and  the  good  of  your  fellow-men.  Time^  with  which 
so  many  trifle,  and  of  which  almost  all  men  are 
prodigal,  has  been  diligently  employed  by  you  in 
the  service  of  this  people. 

To  gratify  the  popular  ear  and  taste  has  never 
been  the  object  of  your  ministry.  Your  preaching 
has  not  been  a  mere  playing  with  the  imagination 
and  passions  at  a  distance  from  divine  truth.  Nor 
have  you  ever  indulged  in  a  style  which  pleased 
the  fancy  of  worldly  men  without  reaching  their 
conscience.  Your  theology  has  afforded  the  best 
field  for  tender,  solemn,  and  sublime  eloquence. 
"The  system  of  theology,"  prepared  with  great 
labor  by  you,  not  for  the  schools  but  for  the  people, 
will  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  were  so  highly 
favored  as  to  hear  it. 

In  1816  and  onward,  I  was  acquainted  with  a 
number  of  young  men,  of  well-informed  minds  and 
cultivated  taste,  who  were  in  the  habit  of  listening 
to  those  doctrinal  discourses,  (among  the  most  im- 
portant and  effective,  in  my  humble  judgment,  you 
ever  preached ;)  and  when  the  sermon  was  the  theme 
of  discussion  afterwards,  while  some  approved — 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  143 

none  actually  reviled — others  bitterly  complained 
that  they  were  "  hard  sayings,  who  could  hear 
th^m."  Mark  the  sequel :  these  very  complaining 
young  men  were  the  first,  on  each  successive  Sab- 
bath, to  occupy  their  wonted  places  in  the  sanc- 
tuary, and  to  listen  with  increasing  interest  to  these 
searching,  humbling,  weighty  truths.  Many  of  these 
young  men,  if  not  all,  became  signal  trophies  of  re- 
deeming grace.  In  this  V7ay  you  did  much  to  ele- 
vate the  tone  of  Biblical  knowledge  and  piety. 
Multitudes  with  a  new  interest  began  to  search  the 
scriptures,  and  through  your  instrumentality  a 
large  number  of  them  devoted  themselves  to  the 
ministry. 

In  exhibiting  the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the 
gospel,  without  courting  opposition  or  making  your- 
self needlessly  offensive,  you  have  not  shunned  to 
resist  fanaticism  and  spurious  religious  excitements. 
You  have  aimed  to  preach  the  whole  truth  in  sim- 
plicity and  godly  sincerity. 

During  all  these  fifty  years  you  have  rebuked 
our  pride  and  reproved  our  worldliness ;  you  have 
set  our  sins  before  us,  you  have  warned  us  of  the 
coming  wrath,  and  you  have  exhibited  to  us  the 
cross  in  all  its  sublime  and  holy  attractions.  In 
what  persuasive  accents  have  you  commended  to 
our  acceptance  the  infinitely  compassionate  Saviour  I 
and  how  have  you  urged  us,  by  all  the  allurements 
of  his  love,  to  the  everlasting  enjoyment  of  his  rest  I 


144  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

You  have  baptized  our  children,  and  our  chil- 
dren's children,  for  several  generations  ;  and  great 
numbers  of  them  you  have  helped  us  to  deposit  in 
the  grave,  in  the  sweet  hope  of  that  glorious  morn- 
ing, when  they  that  sleep  in  Jesus  shall  awake  in 
his  likeness. 

I  need  not  allude  to  the  many  printed  volumes 
which  you  have  sent  forth,  to  instruct  and  edify 
your  fellow-men.  They  speak  for  themselves.  They 
will  prove  an  enduring  monument  of  your  intel- 
lectual vigor,  and  of  your  consistent,  mature,  and 
warm-hearted  piety. 

While  an  enlightened  and  liberal  charity  has 
ever  kept  you  within  the  bounds  of  kindness  to- 
ward those  who  differed  from  you  in  opinion,  you 
have  not  been  induced  to  depart  from  the  high 
standard  of  evangelical  truth  which  has  ever  dis- 
tinguished your  ministry. 

In  all  seasons  of  calamity^  during  plague  and 
pestilence,  personal  peril  and  public  danger,  you 
have  always  been  at  your  post,  and,  with  unflinch- 
ing fidelity  and  devotion,  ministered  to  the  wants 
of  the  sick  and  the  dying,  and  comforted  the  sorrow- 
ful and  the  bereaved. 

During  the  many  gracious  visitations  with  which 
this  church  has  been  blessed  under  your  labors,  it 
were  no  easy  task  truthfully  to  describe  the  deep 
and  sweet  solemnity  which  has  pervaded  our  as- 
semblies. 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  145 

"  How  sweet  and  how  awful  was  the  place ! " 
What  days  of  heaven  upon  earth !  no  tongue  can 
describe  them.  How  lovely  the  sanctuary !  every 
pew  filled,  the  galleries  crowded  in  every  part 
with  anxious  and  devout  worshippers.  What 
tokens  of  the  divine  presence  !  what  pledges  of  his 
love  !  What  a  beautiful  and  sublime  spectacle,  to 
behold  the  vast  assembly,  retiring  after  each  ser- 
vice, in  profound  silence^  to  meditate  and  pray. 

Amid  these  scenes  of  mercy,  it  is  delightful  to 
know  that  almost  every  member  of  the  church 
was  actively  employed. 

In  addition  to  the  services  of  the  sanctuary,  the 
weekly  lecture,  and  the  ordinary  prayer-meetings, 
there  were  maintained  for  a  long  period  twelve 
neighborhood  prayer-meetings,  at  private  houses, 
on  every  Friday  evening,  in  different  parts  of  the 
congregation,  sustained  by  committees  averaging 
seven  each,  which  were  so  distributed  as  every 
week  to  ensure  a  continual  rotation.  All  these 
efforts  received  your  watchful  supervision. 

The  Old  White  Lecture-room^  so  redolent  with 
the  richest  perfume  during  these  halcyon  days, 
claims  here  a  passing  tribute.  What  a  fountain  of 
sweet  memories  does  its  simple  name  unseal !  Here 
was  the  scene  of  some  of  your  most  successful  la- 
boi-s.  What  deep  and  pungent  convictions  of  sin  ! 
What  penitential  sighings  !  What  tears  of  contri- 
tion !  What  heart  throbbings !  What  numerous 
10 


146  BRICK  CHUECH  MEMORIAL.  . 

conversions !  What  songs  of  triumpliant  rejoicing ! 
It  must  be  reserved  for  eternity  to  recount  the 
triumphs  of  grace  witnessed  in  the  Old  White  Lec- 
ture-room. 

In  these  memorable  days,  the  manifestation  of 
the  divine  presence  was  often  so  evident,  that  we 
seemed  every  time  we  entered  the  sanctuary  to 
hear  God's  declaration  to  Moses,  as  if  audibly  re- 
peated :  "  Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for 
the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy  ground." 
Then  did  the  great  Master  of  Assemblies  walk 
amid  the  golden  candlesticks,  and  make  the  place 
of  his  feet  glorious. 

These  were  days  and  scenes  never  to  be  forgot- 
ten. It  is  refreshing  to  look  back  upon  them,  and 
give  God  thanks  for  these  bright  spots  in  your 
history. 

That  great  and  gracious  Being,  "  in  whose  hand 
our  breath  is,  and  whose  are  all  our  ways,"  has 
been  pleased  to  spare  you,  while  you  have  seen  all 
your  compeers  laid  in  the  grave.  It  is  pleasant,  yet 
mournful  at  this  hour,  to  recall  the  names  of  some 
of  the  officers  of  this  church,  who  labored  most 
harmoniously  with  you,  and  who  have  gone  to 
their  rest  on  high. 

I  may  not  omit  to  mention  the  sedate  and  ven- 
erable JBinglia7n  ;  the  warm-hearted  and  heavenly- 
minded  Wliitlochj  the  meek  and  childlike  Cunning- 
Jiami  the  intelligent  and  upright  Hawes  ',  the  wise 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  147 

and  useful  Lochwood ;  the  respected  and  pious  Ha- 
vens,'  tte  courteous,  J^ulMey  '  the  conservative  and 
gentlemanly  De  Forest ;  the  sober-minded  Stephens; 
the  urbane  and  gentle  Halsey  ;  the  amiable  and  ex- 
emplary Oakley ;  the  earnest  and  devout  Bokee  i 
the  humble,  lowly,  and  refined  McComb  ;  the  guile- 
less and  unassuming  Brown  /  the  modest  and  diffi- 
dent Luyster  /  the  sincere  and  unpretending  Mead; 
the  consistent  and  devoted  Harding  /  and  Adams, 
the  inflexible  and  just.     Their  record  is  on  high. 

It  would  be  most  gi'atifying,  if  time  permitted, 
to  review  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  various  be- 
nevolent and  religious  enterprises  which  have  arisen 
during  your  ministry,  and  in  which  you  have  borne 
a  conspicuous  part.  They  are  the  glory  of  our 
land.  The  triumphs  of  the  gospel,  in  this  and  in 
other  lands,  have  distinguished  this  period  beyond 
all  others.  Science  and  the  arts,  education  and 
literature,  have  made  advances  such  as  the  world 
never  before  saw. 

During  all  this  time,  what  could  have  been  ac- 
complished without  the  pidpitf  And  may  I  not 
appeal  to  this  great  assembly,  and  confidently  ask, 
"  How  important  and  appropriate  a  share  has  this 
pulpit  borne  in  the  glorious  work  of  saving  the 
world?" 

The  part  you  have  been  permitted  to  bear  in 
these  heaven-born  enterprises,  and  in  demonstra- 
ting the  power  of  the  pulpit  as  the  most  important 


148  BEICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

agency  in  converting  the  world,  will  be  remem- 
bered with  sincerest  gratitude  by  all  coming  gene- 
rations. 

The  joyful  solemnities  of  this  interesting  hour, 
which  must  be  limited  in  continuance,  will  not  al- 
low of  even  a  rapid  glance  at  numerous  other  topics 
which  crowd  upon  our  memories. 

I  cannot,  I  dare  not,  however,  in  justice  to  my- 
self, and  to  "  all  these  children  whom  God  hath 
given  you,"  omit  to  say,  that  we  are  indebted  to 
your  ministry  more  than  to  anything  and  all  things 
else  beside,  on  earth.  "  Tlie  things  that  are  seen 
are  tempoi^aV  We  can  only  say,  out  of  our  full 
hearts.  We  love  you  sincerely,  ardently  love  you, 
and  here  in  these  courts  record  it. 

I  should  be  derelict  in  duty,  and  do  violence 
to  the  best  feelings  of  my  nature,  if  I  should  neg- 
lect on  this  occasion  to  pay  my  feeble  tribute  of 
grateful  respect  and  love  to  the  memoiy  of  that 
beloved  Woman,  who  for  upwards  of  fifty-four 
years  was  the  companion  of  your  toils  and  the 
sharer  of  your  joys. 

From  the  very  beginning  of  your  ministry,  with 
a  clear  and  sagacious  intellect,  and  "  a  zeal  accord- 
ing to  knowledge,"  she  identified  herself  with  all 
your  interests  and  duties  as  pastor  of  this  people  : 
to  a  clear  and  discriminating  mind,  she  united  ex- 
cellent judgment  and  piety. 

Her  social  qualities  were  of  a  high  order,  and, 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  149 

combined  with  her  courteous  demeanor,  secured  the 
confidence  and  esteem  of  the  whole  congregation. 

Those  of  this  congregation  who  have  known  the 
large  family  which  she  reared,  will  require  no  enu- 
meration from  me  of  her  peculiar  traits,  to  magnify 
the  amount  of  care,  of  toil,  of  night-watchings ;  or 
the  patience,  economy,  prudence,  and  solicitude 
which  she  uniformly  exhibited  during  your  whole 
ministry. 

"She  worked  willingly  with  her  hands.  She 
looked  well  to  the  ways  of  her  household.  She 
never  ate  the  bread  of  idleness.  Strength  and 
honor  were  her  clothing." 

Comparatively  very  few  of  this  people  have  ever 
known  how  much  they  were  indebted  to  her  watch- 
fulness and  industry.  When  oppressed  and  over- 
burdened with  the  responsibilities  and  cares  of  a 
large  congregation,  how,  with  a  device  and  fore- 
thought which  faithful  woman  only  knows,  did  she 
interpose  her  willing  hand  and  heart  to  relieve  you 
of  domestic  toil,  and  prudently,  studiously,  and  in- 
dustriously superintend  all  your  household  affaii*3, 
with  a  vigilance  that  never  slept ! 

It  would  be  difficult  to  describe  the  labors,  the 
anxieties,  the  perplexities  o^hich  she  relieved  you, 
when  she  knew  that  the  claims  of  your  people  and 
your  preparations  for  the  pulpit  made  constant 
demands  upon  your  time  and  vigor  equal  to  your 
utmost  capacity. 


150  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

Her  encouraging  look,  her  prudent  endearments 
and  cheerful  smile,  amid  all  her  cares  and  duties, 
have  often  chased  away  your  despondency,  and 
bade  you  go  on  your  way  rejoicing. 

God,  in  his  infinite  wisdom,  has  seen  fit  to  take 
her  to  himself  "  She  has  gone  to  a  scene  where 
her  virtues  will  not  miss  their  employment."  "  Her 
children  arise  up,  and  call  her  blessed.  Her  husband 
also,  and  he  praiseth  her." 

But  I  must  close. 

Long,  my  revered  pastor,  may  you  stand  in  this 
pulpit.  May  the  rich  lessons  of  experience  and  love 
from  your  exhaustless  storehouse,  (garnered  there 
by  fifty  years  of  untiring  industry,)  continue  to 
flow  from  your  lips,  to  edify  and  comfort  an  afi^ec- 
tionate  and  devoted  people,  for  a  great  while  to 
come. 

May  he,  who  hath  hitherto  so  kindly  watched 
over  you,  deal  gently  with  you  now  in  this  hour  of 
your  trial.  May  he  fill  you  with  his  Spirit,  com- 
fort you  with  his  presence,  and  ever  enlighten  your 
path,  until  the  evening  sun  of  a  long  and  well-spent 
day  shall  shine  serenely  upon  the  closing  scene,  and 
the  blessed  Saviour,  taking  you  by  the  hand,  lead 
you  peacefully  and  triufhphantly  through  the  dark 
valley. 

"  His  rod  and  his  staff  comfort  you." 


BRICK  CHUR0H  MEMORIAL.  151 


DANIEL  LORD'S  ADDRESS. 

The  chairman  having  announced  the  order  of 
the  exercises,  Daniel  Lord,  Esq.,  delivered  the  fol- 
lowing address.     He  said : 

Fifty  years  ministering  to  the  same  people! 
What  a  remarkable  event  in  the  history  of  a  con- 
gregation !  remarkable  in  the  long  service  of  the 
minister,  and  in  the  steady  love  and  satisfaction  of 
his  people.  It  calls  for  the  expression  of  devout 
thankfulness  to  God  by  both.  It  deserves  to  be 
perpetuated  by  a  durable  memorial,  and  warrants 
a  mutual  congratulation. 

Fifty  years  of  labor  in  an  intellectual,  arduous, 
and  painful  vocation !  Fifty  years  of  such  toil  per- 
mitted to  be  exercised  by  one  pastor,  and  to  be 
enjoyed  by  one  community !  It  involves  a  vast 
thought!  The  venerated  dead  who  have  been 
named  to  you  as  once  here, — where  are  they  ? 
Fifty  years  upon  them !  They  have  passed  away ; 
but  they  are  witnesses  still  with  us.  For  here  we 
have  been  taught,  that  the  end  of  this  gospel  is  to 
bring  those  who  are  faithful  to  the  spirits  of  just 
men  made  perfect.  It  adds  to  the  sacredness  of 
this  occasion  and  of  this  place,  that  we  believe 
that  the  spirits  of  the  "just  made  perfect"  look 
down  with  favor  at  all  that  is  worthy  in  these  cele- 
brations. 


152  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

Fifty  years  of  pastoral  service !  What  a  mass 
of  labor !  Two  orations  a  week,  one  or  two  stud- 
ied discourses,  and  innumerable  calls  for  intelligent 
instruction,  and  sacred  and  lioly  counsels  !  Fifty 
years'  service  !  Why,  what  effect  ought  it  to  pro- 
duce !  My  friend  has  spoken  of  those  who  were 
aged.  But  how  many  have  come  up  from  child- 
hood, and  grown  old  during  those  fifty  years  !  I 
remember  the  gentlemen  who  have  been  named, 
when  I  was  a  boy,  a  child :  they  are  gone,  but  are 
they  the  only  ones  who  have  partaken  in  the  ser- 
vices which  we  now  commemorate  ?  Generations 
have  risen  up,  grown  old,  and  passed  away,  under 
this  ministration  of  fifty  years.  Fifty  years  spared 
to  an  intellectual  man !  Thanks  are  due  to  God 
for  so  great  a  mercy.  Not  fifty  dragging  years, 
which  merely  leave  upon  the  calendar  the  mari^ 
of  so  many  items  of  duration,  but  fifty  years  of 
labor,  fifty  years  of  motion,  fifty  years  of  eloquence, 
fifty  years  culminating,  not  in  debility,  but  in  vigor ; 
not  in  the  leanness  of  old  age,  but  in  the  fatness  of 
intellectual  strength!  Thanks  be  to  God  for  so 
great  a  mercy ! 

This  occasion  calls  on  us  to  look  at  another  thing 
in  this  result  of  fifty  years.  It  has  been  fifty  years 
of  concord  in  this  excited  city — fifty  years  of  Ameri- 
can life — fifty  years  of  a  changing  population — fifty 
years  of  a  congregation  united,  under  circumstances 
not  always  the  most  easy  to  be  harmonious  in — 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  153 

fifty  yeai"s  of  real  Christian  unity  in  one  congrega- 
tion !  It  is  a  circumstance  not  to  be  proud  of, — 
for  man  alone  could  not  do  it ;  but  it  is  a  thing  to 
be  thankful  for,  because  it  does  seem  to  be  an  evi- 
dence of  God's  presence. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  people  among 
whom  these  fifty  years  have  been  spent,  not  in  the 
way  of  self-gratulation,  but  of  a  sober  estimate  of 
the  progress  of  which  we  are  now  speaking.  It  is 
a  part  of  the  history  of  this  church,  that  in  the 
Revolution  it  was  the  Democratic  part  of  the  larg- 
er Presbyterian  church  which  comprised  it.  It 
was  the  patriotic,  in  opposition  to  the  conservative 
and  Tory  part  of  the  Presbyterian  body  in  this 
city.  The  Scotch  and  Irish  elements  were  vastly 
conservative ;  the  American  element,  the  New  Eng- 
land element,  settled  itself  in  that  edifice  of  which 
we,  as  the  successors,  are  worshippers.  Our  prede- 
cessoi-s  were  of  those  who,  in  the  Presbyterian  com- 
munity as  in  every  other,  form  the  middle  class,  and 
are  at  once  the  basis  and  the  bond  of  society.  As 
time  rolled  on,  these  men,  according  to  the  natural 
thrift  of  an  mdustrious  people,  became  a  powerful 
community;  and  in  1809,  after  this  Revolutionary 
toil  had  all  passed  over,  and  its  memory  had  be- 
come in  some  degree  forgotten,  there  was  a  neces- 
sary division  in  the  larger  body  of  which  this  con- 
gregation was  a  part.  But  here  remained  the 
descendants  of  those  hard  working,  hard  thinking, 


154  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

independent  men.  As  I  remember  ttis  community 
in  early  life,  the  Brick  Clmrcli  congregation  was 
composed  of  men  in  the  middle  ranks  of  life — 
thinking,  working,  independent  men — men  whom 
you  could  not  drive  by  fear,  nor  coax  by  favor, 
and  with  whom  you  could  not  deal  without  intel- 
lectual conviction.  Convince  them,  and  they  were 
yours ;  fail  to  convince  them,  and  they  were  the 
most  independent  body  of  men  that  could  be  seen. 
Now  it  was  among  such  a  people  as  that,  that  this 
fifty  years'  ministry  began.  It  was  to  a  people  like 
this,  that  our  esteemed  friend  was  called  to  minis- 
ter. This  people  underwent  those  changes  in  our 
history  which,  when  I  mark  them  to  you,  will  show 
that  there  did  exist  causes  of  dissension,  of  diffi- 
culty, of  controversy,  things  uncongenial  with  that 
harmony  which  always  has  existed  among  us.  We 
had  the  war  of  1812,  with  all  its  exciting  political 
questions, — questions  which,  though  they  were  po- 
litical, really  went  into  the  very  bosom  of  every 
man's  family.  We  had  the  most  severe  party  con- 
troversies following  upon  that  war.  Then  came 
the  period  of  religious  enterprise — the  establish- 
ment of  the  great  charities  outside  of  the  church, 
endeavoring  to  combine  men  of  all  descriptions  in 
the  same  course  of  charity.  But  that  infirmity 
which  belongs  to  all  human  things  led  to  divisions 
of  opinion,  and  to  excitement  respecting  them. 
Then  we  came  upon  the  times  of  slavery  and  anti- 


BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL.  155 

slavery.  These  questions  touched  us  at  every 
point,  and  they  were  questions  to  which  the  pastor 
was  not  a  stranger.  He  had  his  opinions,  and  they 
were  not  concealed  nor  withheld.  But  how  did  he 
deal  with  his  people,  amid  these  topics  of  excite- 
ment and  distraction  ?  He  took  the  philosophic 
ground,  that  if  the  fountain  was  pure  the  stream 
would  be  clean.  He  did  not  go  down  to  stop  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  but  he  sought  to  clear  it  at  the 
source.  He  went  upon  the  gospel  principle,  that  a 
regenerated  heart  with  an  enlightened  conscience 
would  follow  out  every  religious  principle  to  its 
true  practice.  It  was  his  office,  and  charge  me  not 
with  adulation  for  saying  I  think  he  fulfilled  it. 
Those  who  would  go  too  far,  and  were  in  danger 
of  becoming  fanatical,  found  in  him  the  man  to 
discourage  them ;  and  those  who  were  cold,  and 
would  not  go  far  enough,  felt  the  excitements  of  his 
preaching.  It  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  mingle 
otherwise  with  the  controvereies  of  the  day ;  it  was 
enough  for  him  to  furnish  the  Christian  man  with 
the  antidote  against  that  which  was  within  him, 
and  the  armor  against  that  which  was  without. 
And  it  does  seem  to  me  that,  under  no  other  mode 
of  ministration,  in  the  circumstances  through  which 
we  have  passed,  could  the  people  have  been  kept 
so  harmonious.  Upon  those  great  principles  of  the 
gospel  all  men  could  unite ;  and  by  reason  of  that 
spirit  of  harmony  we  have  passed  through  strug- 


156  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

gles  and  difficulties  of  the  gravest  sort.  We 
passed  through  this  period  of  trial  through  the 
difficult,  the  very  difficult,  although  apparently  in- 
significant, process  of  settling  upon  a  new  place  of 
worship,  a  subject  upon  which  many  congregations 
have  broken.  We  have  harmoniously  called  to  his 
aid  a  colleague.  All  this  has  taken  place  in  conse- 
quence of  that  spirit  of  harmony,  which  has  grown 
out  of  the  preaching  of  the  simple  gospel  as  the 
remedy  for  all  the  evils  marking  both  the  individ- 
ual and  social  state. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  general  drift  of  his 
ministrations; — the  degree  and  manner  in  which 
they  have  been  exercised  we  ought  not  to  fail  to 
notice.  And  I  do  it  in  no  spirit  of  exaggeration, — 
in  no  spirit  of  wonder.  The  deeds  of  a  giant,  al- 
though they  might  be  great  in  themselves,  would 
be  but  a  poor  example  to  hold  up,  because  but  few 
can  be  giants ;  and  where  the  actions  done  are  very 
extraordinary,  the  benefit  of  the  example  is  lost. 
What  strikes  me  as  particularly  calling  for  our 
thanks  to  God  upon  this  occasion  is,  that  the  re- 
sults which  have  been  produced,  so  beautiful  to 
look  at,  have  been  such  as  are  within  the  reach  of 
ordinary  men,  with  ordinary  prudence,  zeal,  and 
labor ;  and  that,  while  the  endurance  of  life  and 
vigor  has  in  the  present  case  been  extraordinary, 
in  no  other  respect  has  that  which  has  been  done 
here  been  that  which  may  not  be  done  any  where. 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  157 

But  it  has  been  a  toilsome  and  laborious  office.  I 
have  no  belief  in  genius,  except  that  it  is  a  great 
capacity  for  labor.  We  have  had  laboi-s  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  labors  of  the  mind  and  labors 
of  the  heart,  label's  burdened  with  thoughts  of  the 
consequences  which  waited  upon  them :  of  these  we 
have  had  the  enjoyment,  and  of  these  we  now  reap 
the  blessings.  It  was  a  duty  to  labor.  I  am  sure 
that  our  friend  would  say,  "  Laboring  as  I  have,  I 
have  not  done  all  that  I  ought  to  have  done."  To 
us,  who  look  at  and  have  enjoyed  them,  his  laboi*s 
have  been  great;  we  appreciate  them,  and  we  cheer- 
fully pay  the  tribute  of  our  acknowledgment. 

Dear  Sir,  you  have  labored,  and  you  have  labor- 
ed well. 

Labored  how  ?  In  the  ministry  of  the  gospel : — 
a  labor  not  of  meditation  and  thinking  merely,  but 
of  learning  also — ^in  which  was  involved  not  only 
the  production  of  your  own  best  thoughts,  but  of 
the  rich  thoughts  given  by  holy  men  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  world.  That  ministry  which  is 
not  enriched  by  the  learning  of  the  wise  and  holy 
is  like  the  pool  into  which  no  stream  flows,  which 
no  spring  supplies,  and  daily  grows  shallow,  muddy, 
and  unrefreshing.  We  therefore  call  upon  the 
minister  of  the  word,  and  do  it  rightly,  that  he 
shall  not  only  be  thoughtful,  but  studious  and 
learned,  if  we  are  to  anoint  him  faithful. 

Such  a  man  we  have  had.    The  duties  of  such  a 


158  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

life  have  been  absorbing.  Its  requirements  sbut 
out  a  routine  of  polite,  or  of  merely  civil  and  un- 
necessary participation  in  all  the  smaller  concerns 
of  the  congregation.  Those  who,  in  this  or  any 
other  considerate  congregation,  should  have  expect- 
ed this,  ought  to  have  been,  and  must  have  been, 
disappointed.  Such  a  course  would  be  inconsis- 
tent with  the  dignity  of  a  learned,  laborious,  arid 
painstaking  minister.  Such  has  been  the  ministry 
we  acknowledge ;  yet,  when  reverses,  when  afflic- 
tion, when  distress  came,  in  any  shape,  we  never 
lacked  his  counsel  and  tenderest  sympathy ;  espe- 
cially— and  I  turn  to  it  with  great  emphasis — we 
never  lacked  fitting  prayer.  I  cannot  pass  by  the 
fact  of  the  particular  aj^propriateness  of  the  services 
which  we  have  enjoyed  in  the  matter  of  occasional 
prayer.  Let  this  congregation  turn  their  memories 
to  any  event  in  which  there  was  a  peculiarity,  an 
affliction,  a  calamity,  or  a  remarkable  cause  of 
joy,  and  let  me  ask,  if  the  supplications  by  their 
minister  in  his  services,  public  or  private,  were  not 
of  the  tenderest  sympathy,  of  the  wisest  and  best 
desires,  pointing  to  the  aid  from  on  high  which  was 
most  clearly  needed. 

It  is  but  just  that  this  congregation  should,  by 
the  tribute  which  we  now  bring,  acknowledge  with 
thanks  to  God,  these  laborious  services  so  long  en- 
joyed. 

But  this  memorial  has  another  trait  of  deep  sig- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  159 

nificance.  We  do  what  we  can  to  put  honor,  so 
far  as  man  may,  on  the  ministry  as  a  lofty  calling. 
It  is  intellectual  in  the  highest  degree.  It  demands 
great  personal  devotion,  sacrifices,  and  efforts.  It 
exacts  a  social  and  moral  purity,  for  which  unaided 
human  nature  almost  seems  incapable.  When  men 
in  this  calling  have  faithfully  earned  the  approba- 
tion of  those  who  have  witnessed  their  achieve- 
ments, why  should  they  not  have  their  ovations  and 
their  triumphs  ?  Soldiera  and  statesmen  have  their 
inferior  exploits  celebrated  by  triumphs  and  tri- 
umphal arches,  and  perpetuated  by  the  decorations 
of  sculpture  and  of  painting.  Why  should  not  this 
profession,  renouncing  to  a  great  extent,  as  they 
do,  the  profitable  emoluments  of  intellectual  labor 
and  secular  enterprise, — ^why,  I  say,  should  not 
they  receive  something  that  shall  be  like  a  statue, 
a  picture,  or-  an  arch,  something  which  shall  be, 
not  to  themselves  only,  but  to  their  posterity  and 
the  world,  an  acknowledgment  of  excellence  and 
success  ? 

It  is  in  this  sense  that  my  heart  unites  in  this 
tribute,  both  as  a  member  of  this  congregation  and 
as  a  man.  Looking  at  large  upon  the  influence  of 
this  magnanimous  profession  upon  the  great  in- 
terests of  the  world,  I  can  only  say  that  it  was  well 
summed  up  in  the  account  of  his  fifty  yeaiV  min- 
istry by  our  esteemed  friend,  in  the  comprehensive 
thought,  Redemption; — the  Redemption  of  the 


160  BRICK  CHUECH  MEMORIAL. 

world  from  sin,  from  the  power  of  sin  ;  tlie  buying 
out  from  captivity  of  the  souls  of  men :  Redemp- 
tion, the  effect  of  which,  as  he  showed  us  upon 
another  still  later  occasion,  is  the  bringing  of  those 
who  receive  it,  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  per- 
fect. On  which  occasion,  was  not  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead  brought  before  us,  not  as  a  dogma,  but 
as  a  household,  personal,  and  domestic  truth,  tell- 
ing us  (and  it  touches  my  very  heart)  that  those 
of  us  who  attain  the  average  length  of  life,  if  we 
reach  heaven,  shall  there  find  more  to  receive  us 
with  joy,  than  we  shall  have  left  here  to  mourn  us  ? 
This  congregation,  therefore,  rightly  judge  and  feel 
that  the  gift  we  have  to  make  is  justified  and  de- 
served by  every  consideration. 

It  is  a  gift  of  intrinsic  value.  It  may  well  be 
that  an  earthen  cup  and  pitcher  would  serve  the 
material  wants  as  well  as  the  costly  testimonial 
which  we  desire  to  lay  before  our  Pastor.  But 
that  beautiful  incident  strikes  me  forcibly,  wherein 
a  woman  took  a  box  of  very  costly  ointment,  and 
poured  it  out  in  what  seemed  to  be  a  waste ;  and 
it  was  asked  why  it  was  not  sold,  and  the  price 
given  to  the  poor.  A  lesson  was  then  taught,  that 
nothing  can  be  a  waste,  however  costly,  which  con- 
secrates, ornaments,  and  perj^etuates  a  great  Chris- 
tain  sentiment  or  principle.  If  it  is  a  principle 
worth  consecrating,  worth  perpetuating,  that  the 
ministry  of  the  gospel  is  a  great  and  an  elevated 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  161 

office,  and  that  it  should  be  faithfully  executed, 
and  that  it  is  deserving  of  honor  when  so  executed, 
then,  valuable  as  this  gift  is,  nay,  were  it  ten  times 
more  valuable,  it  would  be  but  appropriate.  With 
these  views,  and  in  behalf  of  those  offering  this 
testimonial,  I  beg  leave  to  read,  for  the  sanction  of 
this  assembly,  this  letter  of  presentation : — 

Reverend  and  Dear  Sir  : — 

The  people  of  your  charge  unite  with  you  in 
thanks  to  God,  for  having  enjoyed  with  you  the 
fiftieth  year  of  your  ministry  among  them. 

They  gratefully  acknowledge  the  faithfulness  of 
your  services  to  their  fathers  and  themselves,  in 
preaching  to  them  the  gospel  of  Christ,  with  sin- 
cerity and  singleness  of  purpose,  with  prayer  and 
labor,  not  having  in  your  view  the  fear  or  favor  of 
man,  but  the  honor  and  glory  of  God,  in  advanc- 
ing the  kingdom  of  his  Son ;  and  having  before 
you  chiefly  the  consecration  to  him  of  the  love  and 
service  of  those  who  are  committed  to  your  charge. 

They  cannot  (as  they  ought  not)  forbear  to  ex- 
press to  you  their  thanks  and  love  for  your  sym- 
pathy iu  their  joys  and  prosperity,  and  in  their 
afflictions  and  bereavements ;  nor  can  they  fail  to 
acknowledge  you  as  the  tender  friend,  as  well  as 
the  counsellor  to  sacred  duties  and  the  minister  of 
heavenly  consolation. 

They,  with  the  Christian  multitudes  of  our  coun- 
11 


162  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

try,  look  upon  you  as  having  an  honorable  place 
in  its  sacred  literature,  whose  printed  words  will 
continue  to  advance  the  object  of  your  ministry 
after  you  shall  have  entered  into  rest. 

They  also  bear  witness  to  your  usefulness  as  a 
public-spirited  Christian  man,  in  the  councils  of  the 
church  at  large,  and  in  the  literary,  religious,  and 
benevolent  institutions  of  your  age,  bringing,  not 
only  thoughts  of  wisdom,  but  words  of  peace. 

As  a  slight  mark  of  their  esteem,  they  now  ask 
your  acceptance  of  a  durable  expression  and  me- 
morial of  their  friendship  and  love,  and  of  their 
sincere  and  abiding  reverence. 

Mr.  Lord  moved  the  adoption  by  the  meeting 
of  the  Address  of  Presentation. 

The  motion  was  seconded  by  Jasper  Coriong, 
Esq.,  who  spoke  as  follows : — 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  CORNING. 

I  esteem  it  a  great  privilege,  sir,  to  have  the  op- 
portunity of  seconding  this  interesting  memorial 
which  has  just  been  read  by  Mr.  Lord.  When  I  look 
around  upon  this  large  audience,  and  after  the  in- 
teresting history  of  this  church  which  has  been 
given  by  my  two  predecessors,  it  seems  to  be  almost 
presumptuous  for  me  to  say  anything ;  but  when 
I  cast  my  mind  back  for  about  forty-nine  years,  to 
the  time  when  I  was  fii'st  connected  with  this  peo- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  163 

pie,  and  with  this  beloved  pastor,  I  must  say  a 
word  of  thankfulness  and  gratitude  to  him  for  the 
instructions  which  he  gave  me  in  my  youth,  and  for 
my  fii*st  vivid  and  solemn  impressions  of  the  truth 
of  God  caused  by  the  words  that  fell  from  his  lips 
upon  that  Sabbath  when  I  fii-st  entered  the  old 
Brick  Church  in  1811.  Never  shall  I  forget  it. 
And  when  the  first  communion  season  came, — but 
I  need  not  tell  you,  who  have  sat  under  his  minis- 
try, of  the  solemnity  which  always  pervades  that 
interesting  season  of  communion  instituted  by  our 
Lord  and  Saviour,  when  he  brake  the  bread  and 
distributed  it,  with  the  cup.  And  when  I  heard 
our  pastor's  impressive  remarks,  his  persuasive  and 
soul-thrilling  arguments,  my  heart  and  conscience 
were  pierced.  Those  feelings  never  left  me,  and 
by  the  grace  of  God,  I  trust  they  were  followed 
by  the  renovation  of  my  heart.  I  thank  you,  my 
dear  sir,  [turning  to  Di*.  Spring,]  for  all  that  affec- 
tionate instruction  which  you  gave  me  in  the  heat 
of  my  youth, — ^in  my  forwardness  and  abruptness. 
I  well  remember  when  you  placed  your  hand  upon 
my  head,  and  said,  "  Not  so  fast,  my  son ;  gently." 
Never  shall  I  forget  it. 

Very  few  of  the  persons  here  present  know  the 
fact  that  this  beloved  pastor,  for  the  first  two  or 
three  years  of  his  ministry,  was  a  delicate  man. 
He  was  not  little,  as  I  was  about  to  say,  for  he  was 
tall ;  but  he  was  so  feeble  in  health  that  the  con- 


164  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

gregation  obtained  an  assistant  for  three  montlis 
at  one  time  to  aid  him  in  his  labors.  What  reasons 
for  thankfulness  to  God  have  we  when  we  see  him 
here  to-night,  and  when  we  heard  him,  a  few  weeks 
ago,  deliver  his  fiftieth  anniversary  sermon  in  this 
second  temjple.  But  when  I  think  of  those  beloved 
departed  ones  to  whom  I  once  used  to  look  up 
with  such  reverence,  respect,  and  affection,  I  feel 
saddened : — Mills,  Whitlock,  Prince,  Havens,  Ad- 
ams, Cunningham,  and  many  others — time  would 
fail  me  to  state  the  whole  number, — for  there  was 
a  period  in  the  history  of  this  church  when  there 
were  sixty  men  upon  whom  that  beloved  pastor 
could  call  to  lead  in  prayer.  Where  is  there  such 
a  church  now  ?  We  have  spoken  and  you  have 
heard  of  the  tribute  of  respect  that  is  to  be  paid 
to  him  to-night ;  but  what  is  that  compared  with 
the  glorious  tribute  which  is  all  around  him  to- 
night ? 

As  I  again  look  around  upon  your  faces,  and 
think  of  the  generations,  one  by  one,  whom  he  has 
baptized  and  received  into  the  fellowship  of  the 
church,  I  pray,  and  you  will  pray,  that  he  may  be 
spared  yet  many  years,  to  gather  in  that  other 
generation  of  children  which  is  just  arising  here. 
Would  not  that  be  the  crowning  glory  of  his  life  ? 
to  see  another  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
here,  such  as  those  which  he  has  already  seen,  and 
I  have  seen,  and  many  others,  also,  have  seen,  in 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  165 

this  congregation, — to  gather  in  one  more  blessed 
harvest  of  the  lambs  of  the  flock  to  present  to  his 
Saviour,  before  going  on  high  to  receive  his  crown 
of  glory.  Oh  !  how  blessed  is  the  truth,  that  they 
who  turn  many  unto  righteousness  shall  shine  as  stars 
in  the  firmament  for  ever  and  ever  !  I  pray  God 
that  he  may  be  spared  yet  many  years  for  this  holy 
service  ;  and  that,  when  God  in  his  holy  providence 
shall  say  to  him.  Come  up  higher,  his  mantle  may 
fall  upon  you,  my  beloved  friend,  [Dr.  Hoge,]  that 
you  may  be  a  happy  and  successful  minister  of  the 
gospel ;  and  that  you,  too,  may,  if  it  is  God's  will, 
see  your  fiftieth  anniversary. 

I  second  that  motion,  sir,  with  the  greatest 
pleasure. 

The  Chairman  put  the  question,  when  the  ad- 
dress was  unanimously  adopted.  The  service  of 
plate  was  then  formally  presented. 


REV.  DR.  SPRING'S  REPLY. 

It  does  not  become  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  occupy 
your  time  to-night.  It  is  a  very  humble  pai-t  which 
I  may  bear  in  these  exercises.  You  have  given  me 
fifty  years  of  active  service  among  you ;  and  I  am 


166  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

more  tlian  satisfied  to  resign  to  my  friends  this 
passing  hour.  They  will  certainly  excuse  me  from 
preaching  to  them  now ;  it  is  their  turn  to  preach 
to  me.  And  I  may  well  honor  their  ingenuity  in 
that  they  have  already  been  able  to  say  so  much 
upon  so  bald  a  theme. 

I  have  listened  with  thankfulness  to  words  of  at- 
tachment and  confidence,  and  even  to  words  of  high 
commendation.  These  kind  thoughts,  so  commen- 
datory of  my  character  and  course,  as  well  as  this 
beautiful  and  splendid  expression  of  your  bounty, 
affect  me.  I  am  embarrassed  by  them.  They  op- 
press me.  They  make  me  ashamed,  because  they 
remind  me  of  so  many  defects  in  my  character,  and 
so  many  shortcomings  in  my  ministry.  Indeed, 
my  beloved  flock,  I  am  not  worthy  of  such  com- 
mendations. 

But  while  they  humble  me,  they  make  me  thank- 
ful— ^thankful  to  God  because  he  has  given  me  a 
loving  and  munificent  people,  and  thankful  to  you 
that  you  are  not  ashamed  of  your  pastoi*.  There 
are  trials  in  the  Christian  ministry,  and  it  also  has 
its  endearments.  Scenes  like  these,  and  such  ex- 
pressions of  love  and  confidence  from  intelligent 
minds  and  sanctified  hearts,  are  fitted  to  encourage 
me  in  my  work ;  and,  next  to  the  light  of  God's 
countenance,  they  will  light  up  my  passage  to  the 
grave.  I  have  not  anticipated  a  gloomy  old  age, 
though  now  and  then  a  sombre  coloring  has  flitted 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  167 

across  my  imagination  in  view  of  the  future.  But 
whatever  have  been  my  apprehensions,  you  have 
thrown  light  upon  my  path  this  evening,  and  I 
shall  leave  this  sanctuary  to-night,  feeling  that  I 
may  yet  go  on  my  way  among  you,  and  rejoice  as 
I  go.  Many  a  time  have  I  offered  the  prayer,  that 
I  might  not  be  allowed  to  be  a  cumberer  of  the 
ground ;  and  I  repeat  it  now.  But  while  I  do  so,  it 
is  not  with  a  desponding  mind ;  nor  will  I  yield  to 
discouragement  so  long  as  I  have  your  testimony 
that  my  imperfect  services  are  not  only  profitable  to 
others,  but  creditable  to  myself.  There  are  yet  new 
fields  of  copious  thought  before  me,  which  though 
I  despair  of  overtaking,  on  the  outskirts  o^  which 
we  may  perhaps  yet  travel  together  and  reap  the 
ripening  harvest. 

As  to  the  past  fifty  yeai*s  of  my  ministry  among 
you,  I  have  little  to  say.  "  Ye  are  my  glory  and 
joy."  My  object  has  been  single.  It  has  been 
to  do  some  good  in  the  world,  in  the  pulpit,  and 
through  the  press.  I  have  been  "  your  servant  for 
Jesus'  sake,"  and  the  servant  of  no  other  set  of  men. 
My  time,  my  studies,  my  influence,  my  heart,  have 
been  yours.  I  have  ever  regarded  it  as  a  wise 
maxim,  to  endeavor  to  do  one  thing  well,  rather 
than  many  things  indifferently ;  and  therefore  have 
been  your  minisier.  That  I  have  come  short  of 
this  high  mark,  I  well  know.  Yet  this  has  been 
my  aim — often,  I  trust,  calling  to  my  remembrance 


168  BRICK  CHUECH  MEMORIAL. 

that  I  am  "  set  to  watcli  for  souls  as  one  wlio  must 
give  an  account." 

But,  my  fellow-men,  much  of  the  credit  here 
to-night  belongs  to  you  ;  and  but  a  very  small  por- 
tion of  it  belongs  to  me.  I  have  been  surrounded 
by  men  for  the  past  fifty  years,  who  have  held  up 
my  hands  by  their  counsel,  by  their  example,  and 
by  their  prayers.  Many  a  time,  as  was  alluded  to 
by  my  friend  who  introduced  those  resolutions,  we 
were  upon  the  very  verge  of  dissolution,  and  it 
seemed  to  the  most  thoughtful  actually  impossible 
to  keep  the  congregation  from  being  cleaved  asun- 
der ;  but  that  God,  whose  hand  is  upon  all  things, 
spiritual  and  moral,  came  to  our  aid,  and  we  re- 
mained a  united  people.  As  my  friend  Lord  said, 
they  were  God's  influences,  added  to  the  moral  in- 
fluences of  truth,  that  have  preserved  us  as  we 
are.  It  was  my  privilege  to  have  what  in  modern 
literature  is  called  a  prestige,  which  has  been  much 
in  my  favor.  I  entered  upon  the  work  under  the 
influence  of  a  great  name. 

My  venerable  predecessor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Kodgers,  whose  last  official  act  was  to  lay  his  hands 
upon  my  youthful  head  and  lead  the  Presbytery  in 
the  ordination  service,  on  the  8th  of  August,  1810, 
may  not  be  forgotten  on  such  a  day  as  this.  He 
was  the  Father  of  Presbyterianism  in  this  city,  and 
the  founder  of  the  Brick  Church.  And  I  will  ex- 
press the  hope  that  ere  long  a  tablet  to  his  mem- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  169 

ory  will  be  erected  in  the  edifice  in  which  we 
stand. 

There  is  another  tablet  too,  you  have  lately 
erected,  in  memory  of  one  who  entered  upon  this 
field  of  labor  with  me,  and  whose  cheerful  devote- 
ment  to  your  interests  and  mine  deserves  a  place  in 
all  our  hearts.  Pardon  me  if  I  ask  you  to  take  a 
few  steps  to  yonder  vault,  and  aid  me,  in  this  glad 
hour,  in  weaving  a  laurel  wreath  around  the  head 
of  her  who  for  fifty  years  labored  with  me  as  an 
efficient  helper  in  my  responsible  labors. 

But  above  all  would  I  give  honor  to  the  God 
of  heaven, — and,  what  has  not  a  little  delighted 
me,  my  friends  who  have  preceded  me  have  thought 
of  him.  Mr.  Chairman,  let  the  God  of  Zion  be 
exalted. 

In  thankfulness  I  have  listened  to  those  remarks, 
and  I  accept  this  token  of  your  favor  with  grati- 
tude. 

Dr.  Spring  then  offered  the  following  resolution, 
which  was  adopted : — 

JResolved^  That  the  Session  and  Board  of  Trustees 
of  this  church  be  requested  to  consider  the  propriety 
of  erecting  a  suitable  tablet  to  the  memory  of  the 
late  Dr.  John  liodgers,  in  some  part  of  this  edifice. 

Dr.  Kodgers,  grandson  of  Dr.  John  Kodgers,  re- 
turned thanks. 


170  BEICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 


The  Rev.  Dr.  Keebs  then  presented  and  read 
an  Address  from  the  Presbytery  of  New  York, 
prefacing  it  with  the  following  remarks : 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  REV.  DR.  KREBS. 

Dr.  Spring  : — My  dear  Sir,  my  honored  Friend 
and  Father :  I  think  myself  happy  in  having  been 
selected  by  your  Co-Presbyters  and  mine  to  be  the 
organ  of  their  communication  with  you  upon  this 
interesting  occasion.  But  it  would  ill  become  me 
to  occupy  this  time  with  the  expression  of  my  per- 
sonal feelings.  I  am  charged  with  the  presenta- 
tion to  you  of  the  sentiments  of  your  brethren  in 
the  ministry  of  Jesus  Christ.  When  it  was  made 
known  to  them,  about  the  beginning  of  July,  that 
the  people  of  this  congregation  designed  this  com- 
memorative service,  which  was  at  first  appointed 
for  the  sixth  of  August,  they  immediately  arranged 
to  be  represented  in  it.  And,  although  the  ap- 
pointment was  necessarily  postponed  by  the  affect- 
ing event  which,  when  we  call  to  mind  its  circum- 
stances and  coincidences,  we  cannot  help  regarding 
as  an  EUTHANASIA,  it  has  not  been  thought 
proper  to  make  any  alteration  of  the  Address  which 
had  been  prepared.     I  have  now  the  happiness 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  171 

of  presenting  it  to  you  in  the  name  of  the  Presby 
tery 


Dr.  Krebs  then  read  the  Address  as  follows : 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRESBYTERY  OF  NEW  YORK. 

To  THE  Rev.  GABDnncB  Spbino,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Our  Venerable  Co-Presbyter  and  Beloved  Bro.  in  the  Gospel  Ministry  : 

The  Presbytery  of  New  York,  having  learned 
with  great  satisfaction  that  it  is  proposed  by  the 
congregation  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church 
in  this  city  to  commemorate,  on  the  sixth  day  of 
August,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  your  ordination 
and  instalment  as  their  pastor,  unanimously  agreed 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  occasion  to  present  to 
you,  through  the  undersigned,  their  affectionate  sal- 
utations and  recognition  of  the  interesting  event. 

During  this  period  of  your  active  life,  you  have 
been  a  spectator  of  the  wonderful  progress  which 
has  marked  the  history  of  the  world  and  of  our 
own  countiy,  recorded  within  this  interval.  You 
have  seen  the  equally  wonderful  progress  of  the 
church  of  God,  and  of  our  own  church,  widely 
extended  through  this  land,  and  spreading  with 
missionary  enterprise  among  the  heathen.  You 
have  seen  this  great  city  growing  from  a  few  score 


172  BEICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

thousands  to  nearly  a  million  of  inhabitants,  and 
enriclied  and  adorned  with  wealth,  with  institu- 
tions of  religion,  learning,  and  art,  and  achieving 
mighty  influence,  until  it  has  already  become  the 
third  among  the  capitals  of  Christendom,  and  is 
aspiring  to  be  the  commercial  capital  of  the  world. 
You  have  seen  the  churches  of  our  Order,  from 
less  than  half  a  score  in  number,  multiplied  ten- 
fold, and  strengthened  with  many  tokens  of  gra- 
cious revival  and  divine  blessing;  and  you  have 
borne  a  favored  part  therein.  You  have  seen 
many  of  them — including  the  Old  Brick  itself, 
venerable  with  sacred  and  historic  associations — 
removed  with  the  advance  of  population  and  pros- 
perity from  the  sites  where  they  were  originally 
established,  to  better  positions,  and  more  conven- 
ient and  beautiful  edifices. 

It  has  pleased  him  who  appoints  the  number 
of  our  months  and  determines  the  bounds  of  our 
habitation,  to  prolong  your  days  with  vigor,  and 
your  ministry  with  abundant  usefulness, — while 
you  have  seen  all  who  in  this  city  were  your  con- 
temporaries in  the  ministry  at  the  commencement 
of  your  own,  passing  away.  The  fathers,  where 
are  they  ?  and  the  prophets,  do  they  live  for  ever  ? 
The  aged  members  of  this  congregation  who,  then 
here,  solicited  and  witnessed  your  ordination,  are 
all  gone.  Even  that  younger  band,  who  stood 
around  you  and  welcomed  you  as  their  pastor  while 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  173 

yet  the  dew  of  your  youtli  was  upon  you,  and  they 
too  were  blossoming  with  promise,  are  represented 
by  a  few  hoaiy  heads.  The  names  of  the  rest  of 
them  have  been  transferred  from  the  registries  of 
this  church  to  monumental  stone.  Their  enduring 
record  is  on  high. 

Of  the  members  of  the  Presbytery  at  the  time  of 
your  ordination,  not  one  survives  among  us.  Of  all 
who  succeeded  them,  and  compose  it  now,  every 
one  admitted  with  your  consent,  no  small  propor- 
tion has  come  into  human  life  within  the  period  of 
your  prolonged  pastorate. 

We  salute  you  as  the  Father  of  the  Presbytery. 
"We  hail,  with  you,  this  day,  the  completion  of  half 
a  century  spent  in  the  ministry  of  onr  adorable 
Lord  and  Saviour,  and  in  your  first  and  only  pas- 
torate laboriously  and  happily  devoted  to  the  edi- 
fication of  one  congregation, — surpassing  even  the 
prolonged  service  of  the  sainted  Rodgei-s  in  the 
same  field, — an  example,  the  first  in  our  history  as 
a  Presbytery  and  in  this  city,  and  any  where  as 
rare  as  it  is  beautiful  and  touching,  especially  in 
these  times  of  restlessness  and  change. 

We  are  glad  to  acknowledge  the  dignity,  cour^ 
tesy,  and  kindness  which  have  impressed  upon 
your  younger  brethren  the  wise  counsels  by  which 
our  conferences  and  deliberations  have  been  as- 
sisted,— ^the  encouragement  we  have  derived  from 
your  cooperation  in  works  and  labors  of  love, — 


174  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

the  comfort  of  your  sympatliy  in  trials, — and  the 
force  of  your  personal  example  and  unstained  char- 
acter, and  of  all  the  grace  of  God  that  was  with 
you, — ^whereby  the  common  salvation  has  been 
promoted,  our  intercourse  with  you  and  with  each 
other  has  been  so  harmonious  and  so  happy,  and 
our  love  and  veneration  for  your  person  and  minis- 
try have  been  continually  enlarged. 

We  rejoice  with  you  in  the  long  and  beautiful 
attachment  of  the  people  among  whom  you  have 
passed  your  ministry  in  all  good  prosperity  and 
honor, — in  their  recent  consideration  and  care  to 
lighten  the  labors  of  your  declining  years  by  giv- 
ing to  you  a  colleague  in  your  pastoral  office, — and 
in  this  present  demonstration  of  their  continued 
affection  and  respect. 

Our  prayers  are  joined  with  them  that  your  days 
to  come  may  yet  be  long,^like  the  palm-tree 
planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  flourishing 
in  the  courts  of  our  God,  and  bringing  forth  fruit 
in  old  age.  And  when  all  your  work  is  done,  may 
your  last  look  on  the  world  be  cheered  with  the 
sight  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  advancing,  and 
your  peaceful  departure  be  followed  with  an  abun- 
dant entrance  into  that  glorious  kingdom,  where 
they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of 
the  firmament,  and  they  that  turn  many  to  right- 
eousness as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever. 

We  subscribe  ourselves,  your  brethren  in  the 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  175 

gospel  of  our  Lord,  on  behalf  of  the  Presbytery  of 
New  York, 

JOHN  M.  KREBS, 
Pastor  of  the  Rutgers  Street  Church. 

W.  W.  PHILLIPS, 
Pastor  of  the  \st  Prea.  Ch.  in  Kew  Fori. 

R.  McCARTEE, 
Pastor  Westminster  Church,  New  Tori, 

EBENEZER  PLATT, 

Ruling  Elder  in  Rutgers  Street  Church. 

WM.  WALKER, 
BuUng  Elder  Pres.  Ch,,  5th  Av.  &  \Uh  St. 
Nbw  York,  July,  1860. 

At  its  conclusion,  Dr.  Spring  replied  by  a  bow. 
He  then  said  that  a  beloved  brother,  Rev.  Dr. 
Samuel  Spring,  of  Hartford,  had  expected  to  be 
present  on  this  occasion,  but  as  he  had  been  de- 
tained by  sickness,  he  had  kindly  sent  his  address 
in  manuscript.  Dr.  Spring,  therefore,  moved  that 
his  son,  Gardiner  Sprlng,  Jr.,  Esq.,  should  be  re- 
quested to  read  it  in  behalf  of  his  uncle.  The 
motion  was  adopted,  and  Mr.  Spring  then  read  the 
address,  as  follows : 

ADDRESS  OF  REV.  SAMUEL  SPRING,  D.  D. 

Me.  Chairman  : — ^With  no  design  of  throwing  a 
shade  of  pensiveness  over  a  most  joyous  proceed- 


176  ^  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

ing,  I  yet  find  it  difficult  to  suppress  the  thought 
that  there  is  one  element  wanting  to  complete  our 
satisfaction  here,  where  there  is  so  much  to  animate, 
and  so  much  to  awaken  gratitude.  I  look  around 
upon  this  gathering  of  my  brother's  flock,  and  my 
brother's  friends  ;  I  look  back  upon  fifty  years  of 
labor  s]3ent  here  in  defence  of  the  truth — how  suc- 
cessfully, and  how  much  to  the  approbation  of  the 
great  Witness  and  Judge,  another  day  will  tell — 
and  I  find  that  language  is  but  a  poor  medium  to 
convey  a  just  impression  of  our  mutual  thankfulness 
and  joy.  And  yet  I  have  a  filial  wish  that  cannot 
be  gratified,  but  whose  gratification,  if  such  a  thing 
might  be,  would  fill  our  cup  till  it  should  run  over. 
I  do  not  now  so  much  advert  to  the  painfully  felt 
want  of  Tier  presence,  who,  with  your  pastor,  came 
among  you  in  the  days  of  her  youth  and  loveliness, 
has  shared  with  him  these  responsibilities,  cheered 
him  in  many  an  hour  of  labor  and  lassitude,  and 
has  made  his  home — what  the  home  of  a  minister 
should  be,  next  to  the  pulpit — ^the  dearest  spot  on 
earth.  None  who  knew  her  can  doubt  that  her 
genial  spirit  would  respond  to  every  grateful  affec- 
tion, which  this  occasion  may  well  inspire.  But 
my  thoughts  have  been  wandering  to  another  ne- 
gation, and  I  could  wish,  despite  its  impossibility, 
that  the  father  and  mother,  who  watched  over 
your  pastor's  infancy,  guided  his  youth,  saw  him 
inducted  into  the  sacred  office,  and  led  to  this  large 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  177 

field  of  usefulness,  and  often  blessed  God  that  he 
permitted  them  to  realize  their  fondest  hopes  con- 
cerning the  son  of  their  vows, — I  could  wish,  though 
nature  and  providence  almost  alike  forbid  the  ut- 
terance, that  they  were  here  to  mingle  their  gratu- 
lations  and  thanksgivings  with  ours.  But  though 
they  have  long  since  joined  the  spirits  of  the  just 
made  perfect,  we  know  the  sentiments  they  would 
entertain,  and  what  they  would  say,  could  their 
years  have  reached  to  this  time.  As  their  humble 
representative,  let  me  give  utterance  to  some  of  the 
thoughts  which,  were  they  here,  they  would  be 
eager  to  express.  I  imagine  I  hear  them  say,  "  We 
received  this  our  son  from  God,  and  we  gave  him 
back  to  God.  At  the  baptismal  font,  at  the  family 
altar,  and  in  our  closets,  this  dedication  was  made 
and  renewed.  And  it  has  been  crowned  with  di- 
vine acceptance.  We  sought  not  for  him  temporal 
prosperity,  the  honor  which  cometh  from  men, 
official  renown  and  popularity,  nor  even  length  of 
days,  though  all  these  have  been  vouchsafed  be- 
yond our  expectation.  We  sought  for  him  the 
presence  of  Christ  in  his  work,  success  in  gathering 
God's  elect  into  his  kingdom,  boldness  in  declaring 
the  whole  counsel  of  God,  and  a  cheerful  courage 
as  he  should  see  the  work  of  the  Lord  prospering 
in  the  hands  of  a  mediator.  And  all  this  and  more 
we  have  been  permitted  to  witness.  And  for  this 
we  would  ascribe  the  honor  where  it  is  due.  It 
12 


I 


178  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

was  not  we,  but  the  grace  of  God  wMcli  was  with 
us.  We  lay  at  the  feet  of  the  divine  Saviour  our 
tribute  of  acknowledgment  of  his  mercy,  and  adore 
his  matchless,  condescending  grace." 

Something  like  this  would  be  their  sentiments, 
could  they  speak  to  us  to-day.  They  were  wont  to 
ascribe  all  they  were,  and  all  their  children  were, 
to  the  rich  and  sovereign  grace  of  the  Most  High. 
And  what  if  their  voice  is  not  heard  here,  and  what 
if  it  be  an  unsupported  hypothesis  that  they  even 
now  know  what  is  transpiring  in  this  place  of 
prayer — yet  we  know  their  spirit,  and  it  is  a  spirit 
which  children,  who  reverence  their  memory,  may 
well  cherish.  One  of  them  has  left  on  record  that 
she  was  "  conscious  of  stronger  actings  of  faith  in 
God's  covenant  in  the  consecration  of  this  son  to 
him,  than  in  the  dedication  of  any  other  of  her 
children;"  and  in  the  more  vigorous,  masculine 
mind  with  which  she  was  associated  in  the  parental 
work,  there  was  a  coincidence  with  these  opinions 
and  hopes.  And  I  speak  not  my  own  sentiments 
alone,  but  those  of  two  others,  when  I  say,  Let 
God  have  all  the  glory  of  what  our  elder  and  long 
revered  brother  is  and  has  done.  If  he  has  "  in- 
creased while  we  have  decreased,"  it  has  been  with 
the  "increase  of  God."  And  if  we  can  read  his 
heart,  there  is  not,  amid  all  the  memories  and  ex- 
ultations of  this  day,  one  sentiment  that  takes  the 
precedence  of  this,  "  Not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  179 

which  was  with  me."  Your  tribute,  my  friends, — 
his  labors,  more  abundant  than  have  fallen  to  the 
lot  of  most  of  the  servants  of  our  Master, — this 
rare  completion  of  a  life  unusually  favored, — he 
lays  at  the  feet  of  the  Crucified,  with  no  more 
earnest  or  dearer  wish  than  this,  that  "  God  in  all 
things  may  be  glorified  through  Jesus  Christ." 

At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Spring's  address,  Kev. 
Dr.  Rodgers,  a  grandson  of  Dr.  John  Rodgers,  to 
whom  Dr.  Spring  had  alluded  as  having  been  the 
"  Father  of  Presbyterianism  in  New  York,"  arose 
and  said : 

ADDRESS  OF  REV.  DR.  RODGERS, 

OP  BOUNDBKOOK,  N.  J. 

Permit  me,  sir,  to  say  how  deeply  grateful  I  feel 
to  my  venerated  father  and  friend,  Dr.  Spring,  for 
the  proposition  which  he  makes  to  his  Session  and 
Trustees,  on  behalf  of  my  venerable  grandfather. 

I  feel  myself  honored,  sir,  in  having  been  invited 
to  attend  upon  this  delightful  and  interesting  oc- 
casion. I  regarded  it  as  a  high  privilege  to  have 
been  present  when  your  venerated  pastor  delivered 
his  half  century  sermon  from  this  desk,  and  to  have 
been  permitted  to  take  an  humble  part  in  tlie  ser- 
vices of  that  long  to  be  remembered  occasion.  I 
consider  it  a  very  great  privilege  to  be  present  to 


180  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

take  part  in  these  services,  as  the  representative  of 
that  venerated  man  to  whom  allusion  has  already 
been  made  as  having  been  the  instrument,  in  the 
hands  of  God,  in  founding  the  Brick  Presbyterian 
church,  in  the  city  of  New  York.  You  will  pei'- 
mit  me  to  rejoice  with  you,  sir,  at  seeing  so  many 
of  the  children  of  the  Brick  Church  here  to-night, 
while  I  regard  myself  as  one  of  its  grandchildren. 
My  grandfather  having  been  for  so  long  a  series 
of  years  its  pastor,  I  am  at  any  rate  the  grand- 
child of  this  church  by  ecclesicwtical  descent.  Of 
very  few  of  the  churches,  in  this  or  any  other  land, 
can  be  said  that  which  may  be  said  of  this  old 
Brick  Church, — that  for  ninety-three  consecutive 
years  it  has  never  been  vacant  one  hour,  my 
grandfather  having  served  this  people  as  their 
pastor  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  for  forty-three 
years,  and  your  present  pastor  having  served  for 
fifty  years.  It  is  true  that  Dr.  Miller  and  Dr. 
McKnight  were  co-pastors  with  my  grandfather  for 
a  number  of  years,  but  he  was  senior  pastor  of  the 
church ;  and  when  Dr.  McKnight  retired,  after  the 
breaking  up  of  the  collegiate  charge  in  1809,  Dr. 
Miller  took  charge  of  the  Wall  Street  church.  The 
Wall  Street  and  Brick  churches  came  forward  and 
asked  that  they  might  be  permitted  to  bear  an  equal 
proportion  of  the  salary  of  that  old  minister  who 
had  so  long  served  both  churches,  and  that  he  might 
be  regarded,  to  the  end  of  his  days,  as  their  senior 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  181 

pastor.  The  deed  from  the  corporation  of  the  city 
of  New  York,  granting  that  piece  of  land  upon 
which  the  old  Brick  Church  Stood  so  long,  was 
dated  on  the  5th  of  February,  1Y66.  Soon  after 
that  deed  was  given,  and  that  land  came  into  the 
possession  of  the  Presbyterian  interest  of  this  city, 
my  grandfather  went  out  and  begged  from  door  to 
door,  as  Dr.  Spring  has  properly  said,  in  order  to 
the  erection  of  the  Brick  Church,  that  there  might 
he  a  second  Presbyterian  Church  to  accommodate 
the  wants  of  the  people  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  those  who  were  living  out 
of  town.  That  was  literally  so,  sir,  for  the  Brick 
Church  then  stood  almost  outside  the  city  of  New 
York.  On  the  1st  of  January,  1768,  the  church 
having  been  built  in  1*767,  my  grandfather  preached 
the  dedication  sermon  from  the  text,  "  I  will  fill 
this  house  with  glory,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts." 
Sir,  it  was  in  the  language  of  the  Most  High  him- 
self that  that  temple  was  dedicated  to  his  service ; 
and  we  all  know, — those  of  us  who  can  look  back, 
for  fifty  years  and  over,  upon  the  ministry  of  the 
gospel  in  that  time-honored  edifice, — we  all  know 
how  gloriously  that  word  was  fulfilled  in  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit,  and  the  descent  of  its  influ- 
ences within  that  sacred  temple.  And  we  pray, — 
and  the  pi*ayer  is  already  granted  to  some  extent, 
— that  the  same  Spirit  of  the  Most  High  God  may 
fill  this  temple,  and  that  the  glory  of  the  latter 


182  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

house  may  be  greater  than  the  glory  of  the  former. 
Oh  !  should  this  declaration  be  fully  accomplished, 
how  glorious  would  be  the  dealings  of  Jehovah 
with  those  who  worship  here,  and  what  reason 
would  they  have  for  exclaiming  with  adoring  grat- 
itude, "  What  hath  God  wrought ! " 

I  have  before  me  a  record  made  by  the  Presby- 
tery of  New  York,  in  the  year  1810.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  synod  for  that  year,  the  Presbytery 
of  New  York  sent  up  their  statistical  report,  and 
this  is  a  part  of  it :  that  they  had  "received  under 
their  care  Mr.  Gardiner  Spring,  a  licentiate  of  the 
association  of  Westford,  Mass.,  Aug.  7th,  1810,  and 
that  they  had  ordained  Mr.  Gardiner  Spring  to  the 
work  of  the  gospel  ministry,  and  installed  him 
pastor  of  the  congregation  worshipping  in  the 
Brick  Church,  New  York,  Aug.  8th,  1810."  Eefer- 
ence  has  been  made  by  Dr.  Spring  himself  to  the 
laying  on  of  hands  of  the  Presbytery  upon  that 
occasion,  so  solemn  to  him,  and  so  delightful  to 
those  who  were  looking  forward  to  his  ministry. 
It  was  the  last  official  act  of  my  grandfather's  life  ; 
it  was  the  last  ordination  at  which  he  attended. 

Having  laid  his  hands  upon  the  head  of  his 
youthful  colleague,  and  having  asked  for  him  the 
blessing  of  that  God  whom  he  had  so  long  served, 
he  retired  from  his  labors ;  and  soon  after  (it  was 
in  the  next  May)  he  entered  into  his  rest.  It  is 
pleasant  to  me — very  pleasant,  I  assure  you,  sir — 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  183 

to  meet  tliis  congregation  here  this  evening.  It  is 
very  pleasant  for  me  to  rejoice  in  all  that  I  have 
seen  and  heard  here ;  for  you  may  well  suppose, 
sir,  that,  my  grandfather  having  been  for  so  many 
years  pastor  of  the  Brick  Church,  I  cannot  but  feel 
a  deep  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  prosperity 
of  this  congregation.  Most  heartily  do  I  say, 
"  Peace  be  within  her  walls,  and  prosperity  within 
her  palaces."  And  when  this  servant  of  G-od,  and 
our  brother  who  is  standing  by  his  side  as  his  asso- 
ciate in  the  pastoral  office,  shall  have  passed  away 
from  earth  to  joys  on  high,  and  othei-s  come  to 
take  their  places,  may  we  not  humbly  hope  that 
the  remarks  that  have  been  made  with  reference 
to  many  who  have  been  connected  with  the  old 
Brick  Church,  may  be  made  of  those  who  shall 
woi-ship  here,  of  this  one  and  that  one,  that  they 
have  been  born  unto  God  in  Zion,  and  that  this 
church  may  be  perpetuated  until  the  kingdom 
and  dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom 
under  the  whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the 
people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High  ?  Then, 
sir,  shall  come  to  pass  the  season  when,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  one  whom  many  of  us  loved,  whose  fune- 
ral sermon  your  pastor  preached,  by  the  side  of 
whose  grave  your  pastor  wept — ^in  the  language  of 
the  sainted  Whelpley  :*   "  The  arch  of  God's  re- 

*  Mr.  Whelpley  was  the  pastor  of  the  Wall  St.  church,  and  died  while 
yet  a  young  man.  He  was  an  accomplished  scholar,  and  a  very  popular 
preacher.  • 


184:  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

deeming  covenant  shall  encircle  these  bright  heav- 
ens, and  all  nations  shall  rejoice  beneath  it." 

Again  I  say,  "  Peace  be  within  thy  walls,  and 
prosperity  within  thy  palaces."  "  For  my  brethren 
and  my  companions'  sake,  I  will  now  say,  Peace  be 
within  thee ! " 


DR.  HUMPHREY'S  ADDRESS. 

Me.  Chaieman  : — For  what  my  eyes  have  seen, 
my  ears  have  heard,  and  my  heart  has  felt  in 
connection  with  this  your  sacred  jubilee,  I  am 
indebted  to  the  polite  invitation  of  your  commit- 
tee, which  has  brought  me  down  from  my  home 
in  the  hill  country  of  Berkshire  to  rejoice  with 
you  this  evening  in  your  devout  reminiscences  and 
thanksgivings  to  the  great  Head  of  the  church  for 
sparing  to  you  the  life  and  labors  of  your  now 
aged  and  always  beloved  pastor,  from  the  bud- 
ding of  the  almond  tree,  so  full  of  promise,  in  this 
garden  of  the  Lord,  to  its  crown  of  glory  in  the 
fulness  of  its  blossoms,  still  bringing  forth  fruit  in 
its  old  age. 

These  scenes  carry  me  back  more  than  half  a 
century,  to  the  day  when  my  friend  and  brother 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  185 

was  the  file  leader  of  our  class  on  the  day.  of  our 
graduation  at  Yale  college.  Thence  we  went  out, 
not  knowing  whither  we  went.  But,  having  ob- 
tained help  of  God,  we  continue  unto  this  day. 

To  make  the  few  remarks  which  I  have  to  offer 
harmonize  with  the  occasion,  I  cannot  think  of  a 
more  fitting  theme  than  the  blessings  of  a  perma- 
nent local  mimstry.  Time  was,  and  a  few  of  us  re- 
member it  well,  when  pastors  were  settled  for  life. 
It  was  understood  and  expected  that  they  were  to 
live,  and  die,  and  be  buried  with  their  people.  In 
those  days  of  Puritan  simplicity  and  continuance, 
dismissions  were  very  rare.  I  remember  but  one 
within  the  whole  range  of  more  than  thirty  par- 
ishes, where  I  was  brought  up,  till  I  had  grown  to 
manhood.  A  dismission  was  a  very  strange  event, 
and  much  talked  about.  In  those  good  old  times 
it  was  not  uncommon  for  ministers  to  preach  fifty 
years  and  more  in  the  same  pulpit  where  they  were 
first  settled ;  and  parishes  might  be  named  in  which 
two  ministei'S,  in  succession,  labored,  each,  more 
than  half  a  century.  Nay,  more.  The  records  of 
some  of  the  older  churches  will  show  that  they 
have  had  three  pastors,  the  aggregate  of  whose 
ministry  exceeded  a  hundred  and  fifty  years! 
When  they  could  no  longer  go  in  and  out  before 
the  people,  by  reason  of  age,  colleagues  were  settled, 
to  bear  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day ;  and  when 
they  died,  "devout   men   carried  them  to  their 


186  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

graves,''  followed  by  the  lamentation  of  tlieir  whole 
flocks. 

How  great  the  change,  within  hardly  two  gen- 
erations, to  rotary  arrivals  and  departures !  Now, 
when  a  candidate  receives  and  accepts  a  call,  he 
does  not  expect  to  stay  more  than  a  few  years  at 
the  longest ;  and  the  people  regard  it  very  mnch 
as  they  do  any  other  temporaiy  contract,  liable  to 
be  dissolved  at  any  time  by  mutual  agreement,  or 
rather,  tvitJiou%  when  either  desires  it.  And,  to 
make  assurance  doubly  sure,  it  is  often  expressly 
stipulated  in  the  contract,  that  by  giving  three  or 
six  months'  notice,  either  the  minister  may  leave  or 
the  people  may  send  him  away  at  any  time.  It 
is  not  so  common  now  as  it  was  some  twenty-five 
years  ago,  and  I  suppose  the  main  reason  is,  that 
the  contract  can  be  more  promptly  dissolved  with- 
out any  such  stipulation  than  with  it.  It  requires 
no  six  months'  notice.  If  the  pastor  wishes  to  leave, 
he  goes  as  soon  as  a  Presbytery  or  a  council  can  be 
called ;  or  the  people,  when  they  choose,  can  send 
him  away  whether  he  will  or  no. 

Indeed,  it  is  becoming  a  serious  question  in  many 
places  whether  it  is  best  to  go  through  the  formal- 
ity of  installing  and  dismissing  pastors  at  all ;  and 
so  they  resort  more  and  more  to  what  on  the  min- 
utes are  called  stated  supiylies^ — a  convenient  term 
of  modern  invention,  which  may  mean  hiring  preach- 
ing by  the  year,  six  months,  or  any  shorter  time, 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  187 

at  their  option.  This  is  about  as  far  as  rotation 
has  yet  gone 'in  the  progress  of  modern  improve- 
mejits.  The  next  step  must  be  to  hire  by  the  day 
as  the  farmers  do,  or  to  have  no  preaching  at  all. 
In  the  large  cities,  I  know  the  pastoral  care  is  in 
general  more  permanent;  but  even  here  it  is  a 
good  deal  disturbed  by  the  rotary  system. 

Time  will  not  allow  me  to  discuss  the  question  at 
any  length,  between  permanence  and  rotation  in 
the  sacred  calling;  but  I  must  crave  your  indul- 
gence while  I  very  briefly  point  out  some  of  the 
advantages  of  the  former  over  the  latter.  It  takes 
time,  in  every  profession  and  calling,  to  obtain  the 
highest  degree  of  influence  and  success.  Men  can- 
not, in  any  profession  or  responsible  branch  of  busi- 
ness, break  up  often  and  remove  from  one  place  to 
another,  without  the  danger  of  losing  more  than  they 
can  gain.  It  takes  time  to  mature  and  carry  out 
plans  on  which  ultimate  success  essentially  depends. 
It  takes  time,  too,  to  gain  friends  and  the  widest 
personal  influence.  This  is  preeminently  the  case  in 
our  profession.  A  young  preacher  can't  go  and 
fully  establish  himself  in  any  important  parish  in 
two  or  three  years,  or  even  in  twice  as  many.  He 
may  be  a  first-rate  preacher;  he  may  be  all  the 
while  gaining  in  the  affections  and  confidence  of  his 
own  people,  and  extending  his  influence  into  the 
surrounding  parishes ;  but  he  cannot,  except  in  rare 
cases,  break  up  and  change  his  location,  without  a 


188  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

great  sacrifice  of  capital  on  wMdi  the  power  of  the 
pulpit  so  mucli  depends.  He  may  go  and  settle 
somewhere  else ;  (no,  not  settle^  but  rent  a  house, 
or  board  out,  with  flattering  prospects  of  usefulness ; 
but  he  cannot  carry  his  personal  and  ministerial 
influence  along  with  him.  In  these  respects  he  has 
got  to  commence,  not  where  he  left  off,  but  where 
he  began.  He  has  got  to  form  new  acquaintances, 
and  gradually  rise  in  estimation  and  influence  as 
before,  instead  of  "  going  on  unto  perfection ; "  and 
by  the  time  he  is  fairly  up  to  the  point  which  he 
had  reached  when  he  last  struck  his  tent,  the 
rotary  system  sweeps  round  and  takes  him  off, 
without  the  trouble  of  rooting  him  up,  and  he  goes 
forth  once  more  to  find  a  third  location,  if  he  can, 
where  he  may  gird  up  his  loins  .for  another  stage 
of  his  ministerial  pilgrimage.  In  this  manner  not 
a  few  worthy  pastors  change  their  location  five  or 
six  times ;  or,  what  is  getting  to  be  more  common, 
before  they  are  fifty  years  old  they  are  set  aside  as 
quite  too  superannuated  to  keep  up  with  the  times. 
And  how  can  ministers  grow  up  to  full  stature 
in  their  profession,  under  such  a  system  ?  Why, 
it  is  very  much  like  planting  an  oak,  and  pulling 
it  up  so  often  that  it  can  take  root  nowhere,  how- 
ever rich  the  soil.  Like  the  oak,  the  ministry  wants 
a  great  many  summers,  and  to  stand  a  great  many 
winters  in  one  place,  to  strike  its  roots  deep  and 
spread  its  branches  wide.     I  know  there  are  ex- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  189 

ceptions.  There  are  some  wayfaring  brethren  in 
our  profession,  who,  in  spite  of  all  their  disad- 
vantages, rise  to  high  eminence  and  do  a  great  deal 
of  good;  but  this  does  not  materially  affect  the 
general  rule.  Whatever  may  be  said  in  favor  of 
removals, '  few  and  far  between,"  the  present  system 
of  itinerancy,  if  persisted  in,  cannot  fail,  in  the  long 
run,  to  depreciate  the  ministry,  and  bring  leanness 
upon  the  churches. 

In  striking  contrast  with  this  are  the  manifold 
advantages  of  the  old  system  of  permanent  settle- 
ments. In  those  stabler  times,  as  I  have  already 
remarked,  when  a  young  Timothy  was  ordained,  it 
was  a  real  settlement.  It  was  understood  and  ex- 
pected, on  both  sides,  to  be  for  life.  He  looked 
upon  the  flock  as  his  permanent  ministerial  charge, 
committed  to  his  watch  and  care  by  the  chief  Shep- 
herd. And  they  received  him  as  an  ascension  gift,  not 
for  two  or  three  summers,  more  or  less,  but  for  life. 
He  was  their  minister,  and  as  they  had  no  fears 
that  some  other  parish  would  come  and  steal  him 
away,  they  gave  him  their  hearts  at  once.  And 
he  gave  his  young  heart  to  them,  as  well  as  his 
time  and  services.  However  well  the  field  might 
have  been  cultivated  before  he  came,  he  saw  there 
was  more  than  enough  left  to  tax  the  best  powera 
of  a  much  stronger  man.  He  was  under  no  temp- 
tation then  to  aim  at  immediate  results,  by  novel 
measures  and  high  pressure,  at  the  expense  of  per- 


190  BRICK   CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

manent  religious  usefulness.  He  felt  that  a  life 
work  was  before  him ;  that  much  depended  upon 
him.  He  could  take  time  to  survey  the  ground 
thoroughly,  and  lay  his  plans  for  "making  full 
proof  of  his  ministry."  He  could  look  upon  the 
children,  not  only  as  the  lambs  of  his  flock,  but 
that,  by  feeding  them  with  the  "  sincere  milk  of  the 
word,"  he  might  nouiish  them  up  to  bear  strong 
meat,  "  that  in  due  time  he  might  bring  them  into 
the  church,  lean  upon  them  in  his  declining  years, 
and  receive  them  as  his  crown  of  rejoicing  in  the 
day  of  the  Lord  Jesus ! "  Such  delightful  antici- 
pations, a  minister  liable  every  year  to  be  removed 
cannot  indulge.  How  great  the  contrast,  and  how 
much  in  favor  of  a  permanent  ministry ! 

When  a  permanently  settled  pastor  buries  those 
who  called  him,  their  children,  who  have  been 
trained  up  under  him,  naturally  feel  that  it  is  their 
duty  and  their  privilege  to  take  their  places,  and 
sustain  him.  They  have  early  attachments,  which 
cannot  be  transferred  to  any  stranger ;  and  they 
will  stand  by  him,  when  they  might  turn  their 
backs  upon  any  successor. 

How  great  the  advantage  of  a  permanent  over 
a  shifting  pastorate  is,  in  point  of  outside  influence, 
it  needs  not  many  words  to  show.  Though  of 
slow  growth  at  first,  it  becomes  a  mighty  power 
in  a  long  and  faithful  ministry.  It  gives  a  force  and 
weight  to  its  opinions  and  counsels,  which  a  long 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  191 

acquaintance  only  can  secure.  It  is  a  sweet,  per- 
vading aroma,  surpassing  in  fragrance  every  thing, 
save  that  in  the  song  of  songs,  which  is  Solomon's. 

And  then,  the  outside  influence  which  a  good 
minister  gains  by  remaining  forty  or  fifty  years  in 
one  place,  hardly  admits  of  calculation.  Every 
body  knows  him,  and  knows  where  to  find  him. 
He  is  the  father  of  the  Presbytery  ; — that  gets  to 
be  his  title,  with  all  the  younger  bi'ethren,  in  the 
wide  and  widening  circle  around.  They  go  to  him 
for  advice.  They  avail  themselves  of  his  treasured 
experience  ;  they  are  helped  by  his  counsels. 

The  churches,  too,  feel  that  they  have  a  father 
to  go  to  in  their  difficulties.  In  a  woi'd,  by  grow- 
ing up  with  the  people,  identifying  himself  with 
their  interests,  and  remaining  through  all  the  ac- 
tive period  of  life  in  the  same  place  where  he  first 
settled,  till  removed  by  death,  he  accumulates  a 
capital  of  ministerial  influence  which  he  could 
never  have  acquired  by  frequent  removals. 

If  these  views  are  correct,  there  must  have  been 
blame  somewhere  in  bringing  the  present  disturb- 
ing influence  into  pastoral  relations.  Where  the 
blame  lies,  whether  Math  the  pastors  or  the  par- 
ishes, or  both,  is  a  fair  question.  That  some  preach- 
ers may  become  uneasy,  and  seek  for  dismission 
without  any  good  reason,  we  do  not  deny.  But  I 
feel  bound  to  say,  in  behalf  of  our  brethren,  that 
many  of  them,  especially  in  the  larger  towns,  feel 


192  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

constrained  to  leave,  when  they  would  be  glad  to 
remain,  if  they  could  do  all  that  is  expected  and 
required  of  them.  They  love  their  people,  and 
the  thought  of  a  removal  is  a  sore  trial.  But  "  ne- 
cessity is  laid  upon  them."  They  can't  remain,  as 
so  much  more  is  required  of  ministers  now  than 
there  was  fifty  years  ago,  when  comparatively  little 
outside  labor  was  called  for ;  when  there  were  no 
missionary,  Bible,  tract,  and  a  great  many  other 
kindred  societies  to  take  care  of — no  collections  to 
be  taken  up — no  anniversaries  to  be  attended — and 
very  few  ordinations  and  dismissions,  to  take  up 
the  time  of  pastors  and  wear  them  out.  And 
then,  too,  satisfactory  preparations  for  the  pulpit 
did  not  cost  near  so  much  time  and  study  as  are 
now  demanded,  almost  everywhere.  People  will 
have  more  popular  and  finished  sermons,  or  they 
will  not  be  satisfied.  The  young  preacher  knows 
it,  and  soon  finds  himself  overtasked.  His  health 
fails  in  trying  to  keep  up  with  the  times ;  or,  by 
taking  care  of  it,  work  must  be  neglected,  to  the 
hazard  of  his  standing  in  the  estimation  of  his 
people.  Under  such  circumstances,  what  can  he  do  ? 
Many  a  pastor  finds,  early  in  his  ministry,  that  he 
must  do  one  of  three  things.  He  must  hreak  down 
early  by  overwork ;  or,  by  favoring  himself  must 
run  down,  and  lose  his  standing  as  a  preacher ;  or, 
as  the  last  resort,  he  must  leave  his  beloved  charge 
and  try  to  find  some  other  place,  where  he  can 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  193 

avail  himself  of  his  previous  hard  work  and  expe- 
rience. Will  any  one  say  that  pastoi*s  so  situated 
are  to  be  charged  with  encouraging  the  rotation 
system  by  their  example?  The  parishes,  many 
of  them,  have  "  itching  eai*s,"  that  cannot  long  be 
satisfied  with  any  one  charmer,  charm  he  never  so 
wisely !  Like  the  Athenians  in  Paul's  day,  they 
want  something  "  newer "  almost  every  Sabbath, 
and  under  the  present  uprooting  system,  they  are 
quite  as  strongly  tempted  as  the  pastors  are  to  seek 
for  a  change. 

And  now,  dear  friends  of  the  Old  Brick  Church, 
I  congratulate  you  that  neither  you,  nor  your  pres- 
ent pastor,  nor  your  fathei*s  before  you,  have  had 
any  experience  of  the  working  of  the  rotation  sys- 
tem, and  have  not  desired  to  try  it.  Fifty  yeara 
ago  my  brother  came  to  you  in  the  vigor  and  fresh- 
ness of  youth.  You  received  him  as  an  ascension 
gift,  not  only  to  youi-selves,  but  your  children. 
Without  a  break  in  the  succession,  he  took  up  the 
mantle  of  that  venerable  father  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  who  lived  to  bury  his  generation,  and  by 
whom  some  of  you  were  baptized.  When  "bap- 
tized himself  for  the  dead,"  your  now  venerable 
pastor  came  at  your  call.  He  brought  his  heart 
with  him  into  your  pulpit  and  your  families,  and 
you  gave  him  your  hearts  in  return.  "  Having  ob- 
tained help  of  God,"  he  has  gone  in  and  out  before 
you,  till  he  has  reached  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth 
13 


194  BRICK  CHUBCH  MEMORIAL. 

chapter  of  Ecclesiastes,  with  most  of  its  infirmities 
light  upon  him,  and  is  now  able,  with  a  vigor 
scarcely  abated,  to  carry  you  back  to  the  time  when 
the  dew  of  his  youth  was  upon  him,  and  to  dis- 
course upon  all  the  way  in  which  God  has  led  you 
and  him  up  to  this  hour.  When  he  has  been  invited 
to  leave  you  for  other  attractive  fields  of  labor,  his 
answer  has  uniformly  been,  "I  dwell  among  my 
own  people."  Happy,  thrice  happy  church !  Con- 
gregations change.  Those  who  bear  onward  the 
ark  of  the  covenant  grow  old  and  die,  but  the 
church  never. 

Here  you  have  now  gathered,  dear  friends,  to  meet 
him  "  whom  you  have  always  delighted  to  honor, 
and  to  set  up  your  Ebenezer."  Well  may  you  in- 
scribe upon  the  monument,  "Hitherto  hath  the 
Lord  helped  us."  May  he  who  dwelt  in  the  bush 
still  go  before  you.  May  he  give  you  and  the  gen- 
erations following  pastors  after  his  own  heart,  till 
you  and  they  shall  all  be  gathered  with  the  general 
assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born,  whose  names 
are  written  in  heaven. 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  my  dear  brother  and 
classmate,  I  tender  you  my  warmest  congratula- 
tions, as  to  a  spiritual  father,  revered  and  beloved 
by  this  great  church  and  congregation.  Highly 
favored  of  our  blessed  Master  have  you  been,  among 
his  ministers.  I  cannot  learn  that,  within  the  last 
hundred  years  at  least,  any  one  of  his  servants  be- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  195 

fore  you,  in  this  great  city,  has  ever  preached  half 
a  century  as  you  have  done  in  one  pulpit. 

To  hold  the  commission  of  an  "  Ambassador  for 
Christ "  a  few  years  only,  and  to  be  found  faithful, 
is  an  honor  infinitely  surpassing  the  highest  worldly 
distinctions.  How  much  more  to  hold  the  same 
commission  for  fifty  years,  from  the  highest  Court 
in  the  universe,  charged  with  such  amazingly  re- 
sponible  negotiations !  To  do  this  in  one  pulpit  is 
an  honor  and  privilege  which  I  am  afraid  that  not 
one  in  a  thousand  of  our  younger  brethren  can  ex- 
pect to  enjoy.  To  "  shine  in  courts,"  and  be  loaded 
with  the  highest  rewards  which  royalty  itself  can 
bestow, — what  is  that,  through  the  longest  life,  com- 
pared with  "beseeching  sinners,  in  Christ's  stead, 
to  be  reconciled  to  God ; "  to  be  faithful  unto  death, 
and  then,  returning  the  commission  to  him  who 
gave  it,  to  go  up  and  be  "  crowned  with  glory  and 
honor  and  immortality  in  his  kingdom ! "  Oh  !  after 
turning  many  to  righteousness  in  this  lower  sphere, 
to  be  orbed,  and  "  shine  as  the  sun  in  the  firma- 
ment, and  as  the  stars,  for  ever  and  ever ! "  What 
a  glorious  galaxy  of  apostles  and  martyi*s  and  other 
faithful  servants  of  Christ  will  there  be,  shining 
brighter  and  brighter  in  those  heavenly  spheres, 
through  all  the  revolving  cycles  of  eternity ! 

While  most  of  our  class  have  gone  to  the  dead, 
you  and  I,  having  obtained  help  of  God,  continue 
unto  this  time.    I  entered  the  ministry  three  years 


196  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

before  you ;  but  it  has  not  been  my  privilege,  as  it 
has  yours,  to  preach  righteousness  to  one  and  the 
same  great  congregation  for  fifty  years.  I  have 
labored  as  I  could,  by  God's  help,  in  two  or  three 
corners  of  our  Master's  vineyard.  And  it  is  some- 
what remarkable,  I  think,  that  of  the  very  few  of 
our  class  that  remain,  four  of  the  number.  Marsh 
and  McLean^  beside  ourselves,  brethren  beloved,  in 
whom  is  no  guile,  have  been  in  the  ministry  more 
than  fifty  years. 

You,  my  brother,  as  well  as  we,  have  almost 
finished  your  course.  You  have  kept  the  faith. 
You  have  instructed  thousands.  The  ministers, 
when  you  came  to  New  York, — the  fathers  and 
mothers  of  your  own  congregation  and  church, — 
where  are  they  ?  You  have  lived  to  bury  nearly 
two  generations  of  your  beloved  flock.  But  their 
children  and  children's  children,  to  "the  third  and 
fourth  generation,"  have  risen  up  to  take  their  places, 
and  call  you  blessed.  The  sun  of  your  long  day 
will  ere  long  go  down.  It  already  gilds  the  eve- 
ning clouds  and  sky.  The  earthly  house  of  your 
tabernacle,  though  still  in  so  much  better  keeping 
than  mine,  must,  in  like  manner,  be  dissolved ;  and 
then,  as  you  go  up  to  take  possession  of  the  build- 
ing of  God,  the  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal 
in  the  heavens,  methinks  I  see  your  best  beloved 
here  below  coming  to  meet  you  at  the  golden  gate, 
and  surrounded,  as  you  enter,  by  a  glorious  com- 


BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL.  197 

pany,  who  are  to  be  your  "joy  and  crown  of  rejoic- 
ing in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus.'' 


ADDRESS  OF  REV.  DR.  MURRAY. 

Mr.  Chairman  : — We  may  have  a  great  many 
teachers,  but  we  can  have  but  one  father ; — so  says 
the  Sacred  Record.  We  may  be  connected  with 
many  churches,  but  after  all  there  is  one  church 
to  which  our  affections  always  return,  as  the  needle, 
which  has  been  drawn  from  its  true  direction,  trem- 
bles back  to  the  pole.  I  have  been,  in  the  course 
of  my  ministry,  acquainted  with  many  ministers; 
but  there  is  one  minister  who  is  associated  with 
everything  that  is  precious  in  my  youthful  years. 
I  have  been  connected  with  many  churches,  but 
there  is  one  church,  in  the  aisle  of  which  I  stood 
when  I  devoted  myself  to  God,  and  that  church  is 
ever  before  me.  I  came  to  this  city,  a  mere  boy, 
in  the  year  1818.  I  was,  through  the  providence 
of  God,  cast  into  a  Presbyterian  family  that  wor- 
shipped in  the  Murray  Street  church,  under  the  pas- 
toral care  of  Rev.  Dr.  Mason,  and  I  went  there  oc- 
casionally to  church.  Dr.  Mason  was  soon  removed 
to  the  Presidency  of  Dickinson  College,  and. on 
his  removal,  having  no  particular  attachment  there, 


198  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

save  to  liear  the  gospel  from  tlie  lips  of  that  elo- 
quent man,  I  passed  over  the  Park  to  the  Old  Brick 
Church.  There  I  became  acquainted  with  a  few 
young  men,  one  of  whom  still  lives,  a  pillar  of  a 
church  in  Liverpool.  We  went  into  the  Sabbath- 
school  together.  I  was  not  then  a  professor  of  re- 
ligion, but  my  mind  became  deeply  interested,  and 
I  had  a  private  conversation  with  Dr.  Spring  in  ref- 
erence to  my  state  of  mind,  which  was  then  in  a 
very  doubting  state, — indeed,  it  was  wavering  as  to 
the  truth  of  Christianity  itself;  and  he  talked  with 
me  in  the  kindest  manner.  I  called  again  :  and  I 
attended  the  lectures  in  that  Old  White  Lecture- 
room  in  the  evenings.  At  that  time  this  beloved 
man,  who  has  just  been  carried  out  to  the  Lecture- 
room  (Mr.  Holden*),  was  an  elder.  One  evening 
Dr.  Spring  was  unwell,  and  that  man  arose  and  read 
a  sermon  which  I  remember  well ;  that  sermon  was 
from  the  text,  "  His  feet  stand  on  slippery  places ; 
and  in  due  time  they  shall  slide," — a  sermon  in  one 
of  the  volumes  of  the  great  Jonathan  Edwards. 
It  riveted  my  mind,  and  very  deeply  impressed  my 
soul.  I  went  again  to  see  the  pastor  of  the  church, 
and  he  invited  me  to  meet  with  the  session,  as  it 
was  my  duty  to  become  a  communicant  of  the 
church.  I  went  on  a  certain  evenino^  to  meet  with 
the  session,  and  laid  my  hand  upon  the  latch  of  the 
door  in  order  to  enter.     But  my  heart  failed  me, 

•  Alluding  to  the  fact  of  Mr.  Holden  having  fainted  during  the  exercises. 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  199 

and  I  turned  away.  And  for  three  months  I  stayed 
away.  A  notice  was  given  again :  I  went  to  the 
same  door  and  laid  my  finger  upon  the  latch,  but 
faltered,  and  was  turning  upon  my  heel  to  go  away 
again,  when  that  old  and  sainted  man.  Father  Cun- 
ningham, came  behind  me,  laid  his  hand  upon  the 
latch,  opened  the  door,  and  said,"  Walk  in,  young 
man ;"  and,  almost  against  my  will,  I  was  ushered 
into  the  room, — where  I  went  through  such  an  ex- 
amination as  was  usually  there  given,  with  a  very 
faint  heart.  The  following  Sabbath  I  was  received 
to  the  church.  I  was  baptized  by  Rev.  Dr.  Spring 
in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 
By  him  I  was  led,  in  the  private  interviews  to 
which  I  have  alluded,  to  Christ ;  under  his  minis- 
try I  devoted  myself  to  God ;  and  by  his  hand  I 
was  baptized  and  received  into  the  church.  I  went 
about  my  business.  Six  or  eight  months  had  passed 
away,  when  on  a  certain  afternoon  two  individuals 
came  into  the  office  in  which  I  was  employed :  one 
was  Father  Cunningham,  and  the  other  was  another 
sainted  elder  of  this  church,  years  ago  gone  to  rest, 
— Peter  Hawes.  They  asked  me,  after  a  little  in- 
troduction, if  I  thought  of  devoting  myself  to  the 
ministry.  I  told  them.  No ;  that  the  thought  had 
not  entered  my  mind,  and  that  there  were  other 
coui-ses  marked  out  before  me.  They  told  me  to 
consider  the  subject,  and  that  they  would  call  to 
see  me  again.    They  saw  me  again :  on  a  certain 


200  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

evening  I  had  anotter  conversation  with  them  in 
the  Lecture-room^  and  the  result  was  that  in  a  few 
months  more  I  was  in  a  course  of  preparation  for 
the  ministry,  under  the  care  of  this  church,  and  by 
advice  of  its  pastor;  and  from  that  day  unto  this 
day,  the  Lord  has  kept  me.  Therefore,  I  ought 
and  must  feel  a  great  veneration  for  this  beloved 
man,  and  a  great  veneration  for  the  Old  Brick 
Church.  I  look  around  me  this  evening,  and  I  find 
that  many  whose  names  have  been  read  by  our  be- 
loved Holden  are  absent :  John  Adams  is  gone ; 
and  Mr.  Lockwood,  and  Peter  Hawes,  and  Mr.  Cun- 
ningham, and  Mr.  Phelps,  and  Mr.  De  Forest, — all 
gone!  Mr.  Fisher  is  yet  li\ang;  Mr.  Havens  is 
gone;  Mr.  Couch  yet  lives;  Mr.  Holden  has  been 
here  to-night ;  Halsey,  too,  is  gone.  Those  men  I 
knew  as  a  boy ;  they  were  pillars  of  the  church, — 
of  the  old  house ;  they  have  fallen,  but  the  main 
pillar  remains. 

It  is  one  thing,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  be  a  minister 
in  INew  York,  and  quite  another  thing  to  be  a  min- 
ister of  New  York.  Almost  any  body  with  or- 
dinary talent  could  be  a  minister  iji  New  York : 
John  Smith  could  be  a  minister  in  New  York — 
why,  I  myself  could  be  that ;  but  it  is  a  very  dif- 
ferent thing  to  be  a  minister  of  New  York.  A 
minister  m  New  York  may  be  a  very  small  minis- 
ter indeed,  and  his  ministrations  may  be  very  lim- 
ited ;  but  a  minister  of  New  York  must  be  every 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  201 

inch  a  man.  And  this  venerable  man  has  been  a 
minister  of  New  York ;  his  hand,  for  fifty  years, 
has  been  upon  everything  that  has  been  good  here. 
What  great  and  good  enterprise  has  arisen  here  in 
this  city  for  fifty  years,  with  which  his  name  has 
not  been  connected  %  Is  it  the  Bible  Society  ?  is  it 
the  American  Tract  Society  ?  is  it  any  of  our  great 
missionary  societies?  And,  if  we  go  from  our 
church  to  our  national  societies,  is  it  the  American 
Board  ?  is  it  our  own  Presbyterian  Board  ? — Pray 
tell  we  what  it  is  that  has  arisen  within  the  last 
fifty  years  in  this  city  or  in  this  land  to  bless  the 
world,  with  which  this  beloved  man  has  not  been 
connected.  He  has  been  a  minister,  not  only  in 
and  of  New  York,  but  he  has  been  a  minister  of 
the  world.  His  name  is  known  in  Ireland  and  in 
Scotland  and  in  England,  almost  as  well  as  it  is 
known  in  the  city  of  New  York.  His  works  praise 
him  in  the  gate,  and  in  every  gate  in  the  world. 
He  has  been  a  minister  here,  and  a  minister  at  the 
same  time  to  our  common  humanity.  Hence  we 
should  honor  and  imitate  him.  Not  merely  in  the 
way  that  his  venerable  classmate  (Dr.  Humphrey) 
has  stated,  has  he  been  a  blessing,  but  in  many  other 
ways.  He  has  been  here  for  fifty  years ;  the  winds 
have  beaten  about  him,  and  the  floods  have  come 
up  around  him,  but  he  has  been  as  a  pillar,  un- 
moved. Why  ?  Because,  as  a  minister  of  Christ, 
as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  he  has  been  founded 


202  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMOEIAL. 

on  tlie  Rock.  Others  have  fallen  and  have  been 
swept  away,  but  he  has  remained  strong  and  im- 
movable as  the  mountains  that  surrounded  Jerusa- 
lem. Pie  has  stood  firm.  Changes  have  passed 
over  other  churches  and  other  men ;  clouds  have 
passed  over  the  characters  of  others,  but  the  sun 
of  this  brother  has  shone  clearly,  summer  and  win- 
ter, for  the  last  fifty  years,  and  has  been  growing 
brighter  and  brighter  and  brighter,  even  unto  the 
perfect  day.  Fifty  years  have  passed  over  him, — 
and  where  in  this  city,  or  where  in  this  land  is  the 
individual  that  can  rise  up  and  accuse  him  of  say- 
ing any  thing  or  doing  any  thing  unworthy  of  his 
position  as  a  Presbyterian  minister  of  the  gospel  ? 
Why,  sir,  in  the  presence  of  such  a  man  I  feel 
very  much  as  one  feels  in  one  of  those  old  cathe- 
drals,— Westminster,  for  instance, — going  around 
that  old  chapel  of  Henry  VII. ;  or,  standing  under 
the  shadow  of  those  old  trees  in  Hyde  Park.  I  ven- 
erate those  things ;  I  look  upon  them  with  venera- 
tion; and  we  must  venerate  still  more  the  man 
who,  for  fifty  years,  has  gone  on  among  the  same 
people,  preaching  to  them  the  truth,  breaking  to 
them  the  bread  of  life,-^— without  a  stain  upon  his 
character,  and  going  down,  quietly,  the  hill  of  life 
amid  the  admiration  of  those  to  whom  he  has  so 
long  ministered.  Surely  we  must  venerate  such  a 
man  as  that.  But  not  in  this  way  alone  has  he 
been  a  minister  of  New  York.     He  has  been  a 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  203 

constant  preacher,  and,  as  I  heard  John  Breckin- 
ridge say  himself,  one  of  the  most  impressive  and 
eloquent  men  of  his  day,  (and  I  repeat  it  now  in 
his  own  presence,)  the  "  prince  of  preachers."  He 
has  been  not  only  a  constant  preacher,  but  he  has 
been  an  industrious,  laborious,  and  active  man. 
He  has  made  the  most  diligent  preparation  for  the 
pulpit.  He  has  brought  out  of  his  treasures  things 
new  and  old,  and  has  never  drawn  from  the  top  of 
his  mind,  as  a  great  many  individuals  do  whose 
minds,  unlike  milk,  make  no  cream.  He  gave 
them  beaten  oil  from  the  sanctuary ;  and  in  this 
respect,  as  well  in  every  other,  he  stands  up  before 
the  youthful  ministry  of  this  land  as  a  man  in 
every  way  worthy  of  their  imitation.  If  I,  on  a 
future  occasion,  should  have  any  thing  to  say  in 
reference  to  this  man  when  his  work  is  ended,  I 
should  hold  him  up  to  the  ministry  of  this  country 
as  every  way  worthy  of  their  respect  and  imitar 
tion.  The  course  which  he  has  pursued  has  made 
a  man  of  him,  and  it  would  have  made  a  man  of 
an  individual  far  less  endowed  by  nature  than  he 
is.  But  the  evening  is  becoming  late.  I  feel  that, 
as  a  son  of  this  church,  I  could  not  say  less  than  I 
have  said. 

There  is  one  thing,  however,  that  fills  our  hearts 
with  mourning  this  evening,  and  that  is,  that  the 
partner  of  his  life  should  be  absent  from  this  ovar 
tion.     But  she  has  gone  to  a  better  and  a  higher 


204  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

world ;  and  when  lier  venerable  partner  goes  tlie 
way  wliicli  she  has  trod  before  him,  if  we  live  we 
shall  strive  to  follow  him  to  his  resting-place,  good 
men  shall  carry  him  to  his  burial,  and  long  after 
his  sun  shall  have  set  in  the  west,  will  its  heavenly 
light  shine  on  the  high  places  of  our  Zion. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Murray's  remarks,  the 
Chairman  stated  that,  although  there  were  other 
gentlemen  present  prepared  to  speak,  men  whom 
the  audience  would  be  delighted  to  hear,  yet,  as 
the  hour  was  so  late,  and  as  it  had  been  already 
announced  that  Dr.  Hoge  would  "gather  up  the 
fragments,"  he  would  now  call  upon  him  to  do  so. 


ADDEESS  OF  JOHN  G.  ADAMS,  M.  D. 

Me.  Chaieman  : — As  one  born  into  and  nurtured 
in  this  church,  and  as  the  representative  of  the  de- 
parted who,  for  a  period  of  more  than  fourscore 
years,  worshipped  in  this  "  holy  mountain,"  I  claim 
your  indulgence  for  a  few  moments. 

I  ought  to  feel  at  home  here  to-night,  sir,  in  this 
large  congregation,  for  I  may  say,  in  the  words  of 
the  divinely  inspired  poet, 

"  Here  my  friends  and  kindred  dwell" 

During  my  whole  life  has  it  been  my  privilege  to 


BBICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  205 

wait  upon  these  ministrations  ;  my  whole  history  is 
identified  with  the  history  of  this  church,  and  I 
come  up  here  to-night,  sir,  to  bear  my  testimony  on 
this  most  interesting  occasion. 

The  memories  of  the  past  crowd  upon  me:  I 
recall  the  services  in  the  Old  Brick  Church  and 
White  Lecture-room — the  Tuesday  evening  prayer- 
meeting — the  lecture  on  Thursday  evening — the 
instruction  in  the  shorter  catechism — the  Bible-class 
— the  singing-school — and  the  inquiry  meeting; — 
I  fondly  cling  to  these  memories ;  they  can  never 
be  obliterated ;  they  will  abide  with  me  forever. 

I  come  to-night,  sir,  to  bear  my  testimony  to  the 
faithful  discharge  of  all  the  duties  of  the  sacred 
office  by  my  venerable  pastor,  whose  friendship  it 
has  been  my  privilege  to  enjoy  during  the  entire 
course  of  his  ministry.  In  storm  and  in  sunshine, 
through  evil  report  and  through  good  report,  in 
times  of  depression,  and  under  circumstances  of 
great  encouragement,  in  great  infirmity  of  body, 
and  in  the  fulness  of  his  latter  day  strength,  he 
has  nobly  fulfilled  his  mission.  In  the  pulpit  on 
the  Sabbath,  at  the  lecture  and  prayer-meeting 
during  the  week,  in  his  visitation  of  the  sick  and 
dying,  and  in  the  last  sad  offices  for  the  departed, 
he  has  ever  been  the  faithful  pastor,  the  consistent 
Christian,  the  constant  friend.  With  the  ideal  of 
the  great  Irish  poet, 

"He  has  watched  and  wept,  has  prayed  and  felt  for  alL" 


206  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

He  has  not  only  "  allured  to  brighter  worlds,"  but 
by  precept  and  example  lie  has  "  led  the  ivayP 

Tell  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  not  this  "  the  highest 
style  of  man  ? "  Once  more,  sir,  I  rejoice  that  I 
have  been  permitted  to  return  to  my  native  land 
in  season  for  this  most  interesting  occasion,  and  to 
offer  up  here,  in  this  "  second  temple,"  my  grateful 
tribute  of  praise  and  adoration. 

May  our  venerated  pastor  be  spared  yet  many 
years,  to  watch  over  this  goodly  heritage;  and 
when  the  shadows  of  the  dark  valley  close  around 
him,  may  he  be  gently  translated  to  the  everlasting 
habitations  prepared  for  all  those  who,  having 
"  finished  their  course  with  joy,  do  rest  from  their 
labors." 


ADDRESS  OF  DK.  HOGE. 

When  brother  Holden  assigned  to  me,  my 
friends,  the  office  of  "gathering  up  the  fragments," 
he  certainly  gave  me  large  latitude  for  a  speech, 
and  one  rather  alarming  at  this  late  hour,  if  you 
imagine  the  proportions  of  the  ancient  feast  are  to 
be  observed  :  for  there  the  "  gathered  fragments  " 
greatly  exceeded  the  unbroken  loaves.  I  promise 
you  it  shall  not  be  so  now. 

I  think  we  have  found  it  good  to  be  here.    The 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  207 

house  of  God  has  been  both  solemn  and  cheerful. 
It  has  been  a  most  pleasant  scene.  It  has  seemed 
like  the  evening  of  a  long,  fine  summer  day  in 
harvest.  The  hours  have  been  many,  and  warm,  and 
full  of  honest  toil ;  but  now  the  west  is  golden,  the 
air  is  dewy  and  full  of  balm,  and  we  can  look 
around  over  many  a  goodly  sheaf  of  yellow  grain. 
God  bless  the  brave  old  reaper  who  has  borne  the 
burden  and  the  heat  of  the  day  so  long  and  so 
well ;  whose  "  hand  has  never  waxed  weary,  nor 
his  heart  waxed  faint ! "  Who  does  not  envy  him 
the  song  and  gladness  with  which  that  harvest  shall 
be  shouted  home  ? 

Much  of  this  harvest, — whose  every  grain  is  a 
human  soul  bought  by  the  blood  of  God's  dear 
Son,  and  "  born  of  incorruptible  seed,  by  the  word 
of  God,  which  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever," — has 
he  seen  borne  before  him,  from  this  field  of  earthly 
toil,  to  the  heavenly  treasure-house.  For  God  has 
oftentimes  sent  His  angels,  and  they  have  garnered 
now  "  the  bearded  grain,"  drooping  with  its  pre- 
cious weight,  and  now  the  "  flower's  that  grow  be- 
tween." 

Oh  !  friends,  I  behold  two  congregations  to-night. 
I  see  you^  with  your  warm  hearts  beating  in  love 
and  gratitude  to  God,  and  His  servant,  your  spirit- 
ual father  and  pastor.  And  though  you  have  as- 
sembled in  crowds,  your  numbers  must  be  swelled 
by  ministers  of  the  gospel,  who  fii*st  heard  from  his 


208  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

lips  the  glad  tidings  they  now  preach  to  othei*s ; 
by  elders,  who  were  once  of  this  membership,  but 
are  now  ruling  well,  we  trust,  in  sister  churches ; 
and  by  a  host  of  brethren,  who  have  gone  out 
from  your  communion  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

But  "  part  of  the  host  have  crossed  the  flood  ; " 
and  can  you  believe  that  they  are  not  here  to- 
night ?  Are  we  not  still  "  One  Church,  above,  be- 
neath ?  "  Aye,  "  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and 
earth  "  is  one.  And  as  the  mountain  was  full  of 
horses  and  chariots  of  fire  round  about  Elisha, 
which  he  saw,  while  his  servant  saw  them  not,  till 
the  Lord  opened  his  eyes,  but  saw  then  with  won- 
der and  joy, — so,  I  doubt  not,  we  are  often  sur- 
rounded by  "  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect," 
and  that  it  is  but  a  thin  veil  which  hides  them 
fi'om  our  eyes.  And  is  it  not  thinner  still  to  an 
aged  servant  of  God,  meet  for  his  inheritance  in 
light  ?  "  Though  our  outward  man  perish,  yet  the 
inward  man  is  renewed  day  by  day."  Though  the 
eye  of  sense  grow  dim,  and  look  feebly  on  "  the 
things  which  are  seen,"  does  not  the  eye  of  faith, 
the  eye  of  the  inward  man,  grow  bright,  under  this 
gracious  renewing,  and  look  clearly  on  "  the  things 
which  are  not  seen  ? "  May  not  his  hand  almost 
reach  theirs,  and  be  grasped  by  their  gentle  palms  ? 

Behold,  then,  gathering  above  his  head,  that 
infant  throng,  on  whose  brows  he  put  the  bright 
seal  of  covenant  grace,  and  God  so  early  set  the 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  209 

crown  of  covenant  glory.  And  there  see  those, 
who  once  came  to  him,  wounded  by  the  law,  and 
with  their  "  hearts  choking  them,"  as  our  brother 
Murray  came  ;  and  those  who  hastened  to  tell,  with 
joyous  utterance,  that  they  had  "  found  Him  of 
whom  Moses  in  the  law,  and  the  prophets,  did 
write,  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  There,  too,  with  all 
who  call  him  spiritual  father,  are  all  who,  though 
"  born  "  elsewhere,  were  "  nourished  and  brought 
up  "  under  his  ministry. 

And  there  I  see  that  father  and  mother,  whose 
words,  coming  to  us  through  a  brother's  lips,  we 
have  heard  to-night,  as  if  they  sounded  from  the 
upper  Sanctuary ;  that  godly  father  and  mother, 
who  consecrated  him  so  fervently,  and  then  trained 
him  so  diligently  "  in  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Ix>rd,"  and  now  stand  in  thankful  joy  above 
him,  and  lay  their  hands  in  heavenly  benediction 
on  his  head. 

And  is  there  not  one  more?  Is  slw  not  here, 
who  gave  the  dew  of  her  morning  beauty  to  his 
youth,  and  then  walked  by  his  side  through  a  longer 
pilgrimage  than  the  half  century  we  are  now  cele- 
brating ;  who,  as  she  was  the  wife  of  his  early  man- 
hood and  his  age  through  the  kindness  of  God,  was 
also,  through  His  grace,  the  child  of  His  ministry, 
his  daughter  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ ;  whose 
unwearied  energy  and  unfailing  joyousness  so  great- 
ly assisted  and  cheered  his  toils,  and  whose  dying 
14 


210  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

smile,  from  which  the  brightness  was  fading  though 
all  the  sweetness  was  there,  is  now  the  dearest  of 
earthly  memories  ?  Yes,  she  too  is  here,  to  bless 
him,  and  take  her  old  place  by  his  heart. 

"  It  is  a  good  sight,"  says  Thomas  Watson,  "  to 
see  an  old  disciple ;  to  see  silver  hairs  adorned  with 
golden  virtues."  That  sight  is,  through  the  grace 
of  God,  before  our  eyes. 

I  have  been  constantly  reminded,  since  my  min- 
istry has  been  mingled  with  that  of  your  senior 
pastor,  of  the  beautiful  picture  in  the  first  Psalm : 
"  And  he  shall  be  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers 
of  water,  that  bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in  his  season ; 
his  leaf  also  shall  not  wither ;  and  whatsoever  he 
doeth  shall  prosper." 

As  I  came  to  this  house  to-night,  and  looked  up 
to  the  clear  sky  filled  with  innumerable  stars,  I 
remembered,  with  solemn  joy,  that  God  had  prom- 
ised that  "  They  that  be  teachers  [so  it  is  in  the 
margin]  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firma- 
ment ;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness, 
as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever." 

When  the  holy  Rutherford  was  exiled  from  his 
beloved  charge  at  Anwoth,  and  dwelt,  "  the  Lord's 
prisoner,"  in  Aberdeen,  he  cheered  his  drooping 
heart  with  the  thought  that  if  one  soul  from  An- 
woth should  meet  him  at  God's  right  hand,  his 
heaven  would  be  two  heavens.  Oh !  my  brother, 
my  father,  how  many  heavens,  then,  hast  thou ! 


BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL.  211 

"What  shall  I  call  thee  ?  My  colleague  ?  That 
thou  art  by  the  solemn  act  of  the  church,  ratified, 
I  trust,  in  heaven.  My  brother  ?  That  thou  art, 
in  Christ,  in  the  ministry,  and  in  the  love  thou  has 
shown  me.  My  father  ?  That,  too,  thou  art,  in  age, 
in  thy  long  pastorate,  and  in  the  reverence  I  owe 
thee. 

I  said,  a  little  while  ago,  that  this  scene  was  like 
the  evening  of  a  fine  summer  day  in  harvest.  I 
did  not  say  the  close  of  the  day.  The  sun  is  de- 
scending indeed ;  but  may  He  who  heard  the  cry 
of  his  servant,  "  Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon, 
and  thou.  Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon,"  hear  this 
people's  prayer,  and  prolong  the  rich  sunset,  for 
our  comfort  and  joy,  through  many  a  golden  hour ! 
May  He  permit  us  often  to  put  in  the  sickle  to- 
gether !  May  He,  indeed,  make  "  the  glory  of  this 
latter  house  greater  than  of  the  former,"  and  per- 
mit your  eyes  to  see  it ! 

But  I  will  not  longer  weary  your  heart.  Amid 
all  our  joys  this  night,  some  gentle  tears  have  fallen. 
But,  lo !  even 

"  The  dews  of  sorrow  are  lustred  o'er  with  love," — 

God's  love,  the  love  of  the  departed,  this  people's 
love,  and  last,  though  its  worth  be  least,  my  own. 


A   TRIBUTE 


THE  MEMORY  OF  A  BELOYED  WIFE. 


A  TRIBUTE 


MEMORY  OF  A  BELOVED  WIFE. 


"  Neither  can  they  die  any  more :  for  they  are  equal  tuito  the  angels, ' 
and  ore  the  children  of  God,  being  the  children  of  the  resurrection." — 
LuKB  XX.  36. 

We  are  not  left  to  suspense  and  perplexity  as  to 
the  existence  and  state  of  the  human  family  be- 
yond the  grave.  It  is  a  dismal  doctrine  that  the 
soul  is  annihilated  when  the  body  dies ;  it  finds  no 
countenance  in  reason  or  conscience,  in  nature  or 
revelation.  Nor  is  there  a  suggestion  from  reason 
or  conscience,  from  nature  or  revelation,  that  the 
soul  sleeps  in  the  interval  between  death  and  the 
judgment.  There  is  no  such  state  of  dreary  soli- 
tude, no  such  incoherent  and  dreamy  existence. 
The  gospel  holds  out  brighter  prospects  to  the 
Christian's  hope  than  this.  The  immaterial  and 
immortal  spirit  within  him  lives,  and  shall  never 
die :  lives  in  an  uninterrupted  and  glorious  immor- 
tality. And  thanks  be  to  God,  he  has  better  pi'os- 
pects  even  than  this  purely  spiritual  and  immortal 
existence.     The   resurrection  of   our   Lord   Jesus 


216  BEICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

Christ  from  the  dead  is  the  pledge  that  the  whole 
being  of  his  redeemed  church,  the  body  as  well 
as  the  soul,  the  material  as  well  as  the  immaterial, 
shall  be  presented  at  the  Last  Day,  in  a  union  for 
evei'  glorious  and  inviolable. 

Such  are  the  thoughts  expressed  in  our  text. 
When  it  declares,  "Neither  shall  they  die  any 
more,"  the  unavoidable  implication  is,  that  "it  is 
appointed  unto  men  once  to  die."  The  decree  has 
gone  forth,  "  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt 
thou  return."  There  is  no  discharge  in  that  war. 
It  is  a  condition  of  their  existence,  that  they  shall 
die.  Ruthless,  pitiless  death  is  the  destroyer  of 
all ;  all  indiscriminately,  all  promiscuously.  All,  of 
every  class  and  clime,  either  now  form,  or  will  form 
the  dust  on  which  we  tread.  When  from  the 
sealed  book  the  Lamb  opened  the  fourth  seal,  the 
apostle  "  looked,  and  behold  a  pale  horse,  and  his 
name  that  sat  on  him  was  Death,  2i\i.\  power  was 
given  unto  him."  Kings  and  peasants  fall  alike 
before  the  ravages  of  this  Destroyer.  Slaves  and 
conqueror's  are  his  victims.  Nations  are  his  sub- 
jects. Empires  that  alternately  rose  and  fell, 
armies  that  filled  the  earth  with  noise  and  conten- 
tion, navies  whose  thunder  shook  sea  and  land, 
cities  whose  business  and  bustle,  whose  laugh  and 
song  never  thought  of  death,  yield  to  his  resistless 
sway.  All  that  remains  of  them  is  the  timeworn 
memorial  that  they  once  were.     His  are  world-wide 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  217 

conquests ;  his  standard  a  pall  of  sadness  from  the 
rising  to  the  setting  sun. 

We  are  accustomed  to  speak  of  death  as  the 
law  of  nature,  and  as  the  debt  of  nature ;  but  it  ia 
the  law  of  God,  the  debt  to  justice.  If  man  had 
never  sinned,  his  body  as  well  as  his  soul  would 
have  been  immortal.  He  is  mortal,  not  because 
he  is  God's  creature  merely,  but  because  he  is  a 
sinner ;  not  by  the  laws  of  his  physical  existence 
merely,  but  by  the  judicial  sentence,  "  Death  by 
sin."  Death  is  God's  decree  for  the  sin  of  man. 
Men  die  as  transgressors,  bowing  their  head  to  the 
award  that  "  death  hath  passed  upon  all  men,  for 
that  all  have  sinned." 

Why  is  it  that  the  bed  of  death  is  so  often  the 
place  of  apprehension  and  suffering?  Why,  but 
that  retributive  justice  there  overtakes  the  suffer- 
er, and  he  finds  that  "  the  sting  of  death  is  m/n  ?  " 
Other  creatures  die,  but  not  as  man  dies.  The 
lily  of  the  valley  droops,  and  the  leaf  of  the  forest 
fades.  The  lamb  is  led  to  the  slaughter,  and  the 
eagle  drops  from  his  aerie  without  a  thought  of 
evil.  Their  death  is  not  like  man's.  Sin  has  this 
condemning  power. 

The  mystery  of  life^  that  active  principle  that 
pervades  all  animated  existence,  and  binds  them, 
however  unlike,  in  one  class — what  is  it?  The 
man  of  genius  and  the  idiot  have  this  in  common — 
that  they  live.     And  what  invisible  power,  what 


218  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

almigMy  magnetism  is  it  which  causes  inert  matter 
to  live,  and  move,  and  have  a  being ;  to  respond 
to  outward  influences,  to  receive  impressions  from 
surrounding  objects  and  mould  them  to  its  uses, — 
itself  inert  when  once  the  unseen  hand  that  sustains 
it  is  withdrawn  ?  And  if  the  mystery  of  life  is 
wonderful,  how  much  more  wonderful  is  the  mys- 
tery of  Death  !  What  an  affecting  transformation 
when  vitality  is  departed,  when  the  blight  of  death 
has  crept  upon  that  animated  form,  and  when  in 
an  instant,  from  a  thinking,  sentient,  active  exist- 
ence, it  has  become  a  clod,  motionless,  senseless, 
thoughtless !  Draw  aside  the  curtain  from  the 
couch  where  the  stern  messenger  of  God's  justice 
is  clasping  its  victim  in  its  chill  embrace.  The 
spirit  still  lingers  in  its  clay ;  the  current  of  life 
still  flows  sluggishly  on.  But  mark  that  panting 
breatn,  shorter  and  shorter  to  the  last !  It  is  a 
judicial  infliction.  The  shadows  are  not  now 
gathering;  they  are  settled;  the  spirit  is  fled. 
This  is  death.  Draw  nigh  where  the  being  that  we 
loved  once  lay,  and  view  the  form — being  it  is  now 
no  longer — that  lies  before  you.  We  gaze — there 
is  no  movement ;  we  speak — there  is  no  answer. 
We  kiss  the  brow — it  is  cold  as  marble.  We  press 
the  hand — but  there  is  no  sign  of  recognition ;  it 
moves  not  from  the  place  where  death  first  laid  it. 
This  is  death.  The  moth  flutters  about  the  candle 
we  hold  over  the  dead  one's  pillow,  and  in  that 


BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL.  219 

little  insect  there  is  life  ;  here,  all  is  death.  The 
soft  breath  that  stirs  that  curl  upon  the  cold  brow 
has  life ;  here,  all  is  death.  That  which  is  not  and 
never  shall  be  death's,  is  gone.  The  face,  so  often 
lighted  up  with  smiles,  the  eye  that  beamed  with 
intelligence,  the  tongue  that  uttered  counsels  of 
wisdom,  are  gone.  Stoop  down  and  look  into  that 
new  sepulchre  just  hewn  out  of  the  rock.  All,  all 
is  mouldering  to  dust.  It  is  locked  up  in  the  grave. 
Speak  to  it  tones  of  sweet  remembrance,  or  sob- 
bing grief;  chant  over  it  the  solemn  dirge,  and  it 
hears  not.  That  curious  and  complex  mechanism 
which  for  so  many  years  moved  with  such  har- 
mony and  regularity,  is  broken.  Pour  upon  it  the 
concentrated  shouts  of  a  thousand  battles,  and  it 
wakes  not.  Heaven's  lightning  wakes  it  not  till 
the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  the  trump  of  God 
call  it  to  the  Judgment.  Yes,  this  is  death.  It  it 
an  affecting  mystery  in  the  government  of  the 
Most  High ;  nor  could  we  solve  it,  if  it  were  not 
the  award  of  justice  for  the  sin  of  man. 

"Once  to  die,"  is  a  lesson  we  all  must  learn. 
Whence  this  aversion  to  think  of  death,  when  the 
arrow  to  which  our  sins  have  given  the  sting  may 
strike  us  without  a  moment's  warning  ?  Whence 
the  strange  stupidity  that  makes  death  a  stranger, 
when  we  can  scarcely  leave  our  own  dwellings 
without  discovering  some  new  avenue  to  the  grave? 
Oh !  how  different  would  these  Sabbaths  be,  and 


220  BEICK   CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

what  different  emotions  should  we  bring  to  the 
house  of  God,  if  each  of  us  felt  that  he  must  die ! 

But  let  us  turn  from  this  dark  side  of  the  pic- 
ture— ^it  has  a  brighter  one.  It  would  be  the  ex- 
treme of  sadness  to  know  this  much  of  death  if  we 
knew  no  more.  "  If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope, 
we  are  of  all  men  most  to  be  commiserated."  This 
world  would  be  shrouded  in  gloom,  if  there  were 
not  a  world  where  death  never  enters. 

"  Neither  shall  they  die  any  more!'''  Beautiful 
thought !  "  Whose  wife  shall  she  be  of  the  seven  ? " 
was  the  question  of  the  unbelieving  Sadducees,in  re- 
gard to  the  woman  who,  after  having  married  seven 
husbands,  herself  died  also.  The  Saviour's  reply 
was,  "  Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  scriptures,  nor  the 
power  of  God.  For  in  the  resurrection  they  neither 
marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage."  There  will  be  no 
renewing  of  such  earthly  bonds  there.  There  will 
be  mutual  recognition,  and  sweet  memories,  and 
joyous  rehearsals  of  the  way  in  which  God  has  led 
them,  and  mutual  loves ;  but  it  will  be  love  true 
and  holy,  and  like  the  love  of  God.  It  will  em- 
brace all,  and  receive  the  response  of  sympathy 
from  all.  There  will  be  thoughts  and  emotions 
that  are  new  because  they  are  sinless, — emotions  of 
admiration  at  bright  forms  of  beauty ;  and  as  these 
beauties  of  holiness  meet  the  eye,  they  will  be  the 
love,  the  admiration,  the  joy  of  heaven.  There 
will  be  no  unsubdued  passions,  no  propensity  to  evil, 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  221 

no  spirit  of  apostasy  and  revolt.  No  foe  shall 
enter  there ;  no  serpent  to  sting,  and  no  roaring 
lion  going  about  seeking  whom  he  may  devour. 
It  is  a  world  of  light,— the  light  of  inviolable  holi- 
ness ;  the  light  of  eternal  truth ;  themselves  the 
elements  of  the  pure  river  of  the  water  of  life, 
proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 
And  because  there  is  no  sin,  there  is  no  pain  and  no 
sorrow  there  ;  no  want  to  discourage,  no  anxiety  to 
depress,  no  fear  to  agitate,  no  disappointment  to 
break  the  heart.  That  last  sigh,  that  last  tear,  that 
last  breath  that  transmitted  the  living  spirit  to  the 
land  of  immortality,  closed  its  earthly  history. 
There  shall  be  no  more  wearisome  days  and  wake- 
ful nights;  no  more  sad  apprehension;  no  more 
anxious  watching  the  symptoms  of  decay ;  no  more 
counting  of  the  heart's  pulsations,  and  no  more  nar- 
row inspection  of  the  earthly  fabric  to  see  if  its 
pillars  do  not  tremble.  There  is  no  circle  of  mourn- 
ers there.  The  pensive  dirge,  the  solemn  prayer, 
the  funeral  obsequies,  this  world  of  tears,  this 
land  of  graves,  are  among  "the  former  that  are 
passed  away."  Death  did  its  worst  when  it  killed 
the  body.  That  placid  corpse  is  the  last  of  his 
trophies.  He  has  spent  the  last  arrow  in  his  quiver. 
His  iron  rod  is  broken  ;  his  power  is  crushed ;  the 
knell  of  his  departure  is  sounded ;  and  his  own 
grave,  deep  and  large,  is  at  length  dug  in  this  his 
own  empire  of  rebellion  and  woe,  and  no  descend- 


222  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

ing  angel  sliall  ever  roll  away  the  stone  from  the 
monster's  sepulchre. 

It  is  rather  an  illustration,  an  enlargement  of 
these  thoughts,  than  any  needed  proof  of  them, 
when  it  is  added  in  the  text,  "for  they  are  equal 
unto  the  angels,  and  are  the  children  of  God,  being 
the  children  of  the  resurrection." 

Tliey  are  equal  unto  the  angels.  Angels  are  the 
most  glorious  of  all  created  intelligences.  They 
stood  their  probation,  and  were  confirmed  in  holi- 
ness, progressingly  "proving  what  is  that  good, 
and  acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of  God."  St.  Paul 
says  of  the  redeemed  church,  "  ye  are  come  to  an  in- 
numerable company  of  angels'"' — made  like  to  them, 
pure  spirits,  themselves  furnishing  bright  illustra- 
tions of  the  perfections  of  the  Deity.  Next  to 
their  perfect  holiness,  their  noblest  characteristic 
is  their  immortality.  Once  they  were  dying  men  ; 
now,  like  the  angels  of  God,  they  are  "  living  ones." 
Time  does  not  diminish  their  lustre,  while  the  flight 
of  ages  adds  to  their  intelligence  and  beauty. 
They  dwell  together  in  the  same  glorious  mansions, 
are  occupied  in  the  same  employments,  and  united  in 
the  same  praise  with  the  unfallen.  It  is  a  thought 
we  scarcely  know  how  to  admit,  much  more  to  ex- 
press, that  when  the  souls  of  believers  pass  from 
the  pillow  of  death  to  their  reserved  inheritance, 
they  attain  to  this  angelic  dignity  and  glory.  Yet  we 
cannot  mistake  the  Saviour's  declaration  in  the  text, 


BRICK  CHURCH   MEMORIAL.  223 

when  he  affirms,  "They  are  equal  unto  the  angels." 
From  the  low  service  of  this  poor  earth,  where 
their  views  are  so  partial  and  obscure,  their  sancti- 
fied and  their  unsanctified  nature  in  such  collision, 
and  their  moral  imperfection  so  interrupts  them 
in  doing  God's  will,  they  shall  become  kings  and 
priests  unto  God,  "  swift  to  do  his  will,  hearkening 
to  the  voice  of  his  word."  From  the  pupilage  of 
earth  they  shall  pass  to  the  "  stature  of  perfect 
men  in  Christ  Jesus,"  and  their  work  and  service 
shall  be  worthy  of  their  manhood.  Differ  they  do, 
and  differ  they  will,  as  the  redeemed  infant  differs 
from  the  redeemed  parent,  as  the  converted  thief 
differs  from  the  sainted  Paul,  as  "  one  star  differ- 
eth  from  another  star  in  glory ;"  but  all  reflect- 
ing the  bright  rays  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness, 
luminous  in  his  light,  glowing  with  his  beauty. 
Oh  !  the  infinite  love  and  condescension  of  the  Eter- 
nal One,  to  admit  such  worms  into  such  sympathies 
and  fellowship,  and  to  have  the  same  access  to 
him  which  Gabriel  has,  who  stands  in  the  presence 
of  God ! 

To  this  representation  the  Saviour  adds,/(9?'  they 
are  the  children  of  God.  That  they  are  the  chil- 
dren of  God  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;  that  they 
are  adopted  into  the  divine  family,  and  have  a 
right  to  all  the  privileges  of  sonship  ;  that  he  is  a 
father  to  them,  and  they  his  sons  and  daughter's ; 
and  that,  by  virtue  of  their  union  to  Christ  as  the 


224  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL, 

elder  brother  and  kinsman  Redeemer,  they  are 
"heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Jesus  Christ, 
are  undoubted  truths  and  unspeakably  precious. 
Yet  we  cannot  but  regard  the  phrase  "the  chil- 
dren of  God,"  in  the  connexion  in  which  it  stands, 
as  designed  to  be  exegetical  of  the  words  "  Neither 
shall  they  die  any  more."  The  special  import  of 
it  would  seem  to  be,  that,  as  the  children  of  God, 
they  are  partakers  of  the  divine  nature — the  death- 
less nature  of  God  himself.  Is  He  immortal  ?  so 
are  they.  Will  He  exist  eternally  ?  so  will  they. 
Here,  they  were  creatures  of  yesterday :  some  ter- 
minated their  existence  in  the  cradle,  some  in  the 
vigor  of  manhood,  some  in  the  decrepitude  of  age. 
There  is  an  eternal  duration,  stretching  on,  onward 
for  ever.  We  bury  our  dead  out  of  our  sight,  not 
so  fully  and  joyfully  instructed  as  we  ought,  that 
they  still  live  in  the  unbroken  series  of  intermin- 
able ages.  In  this  world  they  were  in  a  state  of 
exile ;  beyond,  they  have  come  home  to  their  Fa- 
ther's house.  They  dwell  in  his  high  and  holy 
place,  and  inhabit  eternity.  I  have  stood  by  the 
dying-bed  of  multitudes  who  feared  God  and  loved 
his  Son.  I  have  sighed  at  their  last  sigh.  I  have 
strewed  flowers  upon  their  sepulchre,  and  wept  with 
those  who  wept  as  we  turned  away  from  the  rock 
that  covers  them.  But  when,  by  the  eye  of  faith, 
I  beheld  that  immortal  spirit  soaring  in  its  flight, 
I  could  not  but  congratulate  the   departed  that 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  225 

they  had  broken  the  dooi*3  of  their  prison-house, 
gained  the  victory,  and  begun  their  everlasting 
song. 

The  text  also  subjoins  another  thought :  "  they 
are  the  children  of  God,  being  tlie  children,  of  the 
remirrection.  This  is  the  crowning  reality,  that  they 
are  the  children  of  the  resurrection.  The  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body  rests  upon  the  resurrection  of  the 
body  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  tomb  of  Joseph  of 
Arimathea.  ^\iiifact  that  lie  died  is  a  fact  recorded 
in  history ;  and  the  fact  that  lie  rose  from  the  dead 
on  the  third  day^  is  also  a  purely  historical  fact, 
proved  by  recorded  testimony.  But  the  fiict  that 
"  he  died  for  our  sins  and  arose  again  for  our  jus- 
tification^'' is  a  great  doctrine  which  all  Christians 
receive  on  the  testimony  of  God  himself. 

The  remark  deserves  consideration,  that  the 
work  of  Christ  on  the  earth  was  not  completed 
until  he  rose  from  the  dead.*  He  bore  our  sins  in 
his  own  body  on  the  tree ;  they  were  upon  him 
when  he  died.  The  burden  sunk  him  to  the  dust 
of  death ;  nor  did  he  throw  it  off  so  long  as  he  lay 
in  the  grave.  He  continued  under  the  power  of 
death  for  a  time ;  and  if  he  had  never  risen,  he 
would  have  continued  under  the  burden  of  our 
sins.  If  he  had  not  risen,  his  people  would  never 
have  risen.    Hence  the  apostle  declares,  "  If  Christ 

•  See  a  work  by  Dr.  Candlesb,  of  Edinburgh,  entitled  "  Life  in  a  Risen 
Saviour," 

15 


226  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

be  not  risen,  then  is  our  preaching  vain,  and  your 
faith  is  also  vain  ;  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins." 

In  that  wonderful  chapter,  the  fifteenth  of  his 
first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  in  which  he  speaks 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  redeemed,  he  lays  the 
foundation  of  his  argument  upon  the  historical  fact 
that  Christ  rose  from  the  dead.  His  proof  is,  that 
Christ's  resurrection  is  predicted  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment :  he  rose  "  again  the  third  day,  according  to 
the  scriptures."  He  then  goes  on  to  say,  that  he 
appeared  after  his  resurrection,  first  to  Peter,  then 
to  the  twelve,  then  to  upwards  of  five  hundred 
brethren  at  once,  and  last  of  all  to  St.  Paul  him- 
self, as  to  one  born  out  of  due  time.  What  histor- 
ical event  is  established  on  surer  evidence  ?  To 
deny  it  is  to  subvert  the  gospel,  make  its  author 
and  its  preachers  false  witnesses,  and  destroy  the 
faith  and  hopes  of  all  the  people  of  God.  I^ever 
were  witnesses  more  competent,  more  intelligent 
and  informed,  more  disinterested  and  self-denying, 
than  the  witnesses  of  Christ's  resurrection.  Their 
constancy  subjected  them  to  privation,  infamy,  and 
death ;  while  the  contumely,  persecutions,  and  suffer- 
ing entailed  on  them  by  it  had  no  respite  but  in 
the  grave. 

If,  then,  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  his  people 
will  rise.*     "  As  the  first  Adam  secured  the  death 

*  For  a  happy  illustration  of  this  argument,  see  Pool's  Annotations  and 
the  Commentary  of  Dr.  Hodge,  in  locis. 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  227 

of  all  who  are  in  Wm, "  so  the  "  second  Adam  se- 
cures the  life  of  all  those  who  are  in  him."  When 
his  body  was  reunited  to  his  soul,  then  his  work 
was  complete.  Not  until  the  chains  of  death  were 
broken  was  he  free.  And  not  until  he  was  thus 
completely  rid  of  the  curse,  could  the  deliverance 
of  those  who  believe  in  him  be  looked  for  as 
glorious  and  complete.  It  is  because  he  rose  that 
their  triumph  is  sure.  When  the  soul  and  the 
body,  separated  at  death,  are  reunited  at  the  resur- 
rection, the  condemning  sentence,  "  the  soul  that 
sinneth  shall  die,"  is  completely  reversed.  In  his 
triumph,  the  bodies  of  his  saints  are  not  forgotten ; 
for  "those  who  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with 
him."  His  resurrection  is  a  pledge  of  theirs  ;  for 
he  is  "become  the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept." 
They  look  for  it,  nor  will  they  look  in  vain.  What 
his  resurrection  secured  for  him,  that  it  secures  for 
them.  They  are  under  the  power  of  death  for  a 
time,  as  he  was  ;  and  as  he  is,  now  that  he  is  risen, 
that  they  are  to  be.  "  When  he  shall  appear,  they 
also  shall  appear  with  him  in  glory."  They  are  his 
body,  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all.  "  It 
is  his  body  that  lies  wherever  his  buried  saints  lie ; 
nor  will  his  resurrection  be  complete  until  they 
rise  in  him."  It  was  a  pensive  chamber  where 
they  breathed  their  last ;  the  death-struggle  was 
severe.  It  is  a  cheerless  house, — that  cold,  dark 
vault ;  and  the  slumber  of  the  grave  seems  long. 


228  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

But  at  his  coming  who  is  the  resurrection  and  the 
life,  he  shall  take  them  to  be  with  him,  and  "  their 
resurrection  shall  be  the  complement  of  his  own." 
Away  in  some  bright  orb  of  light  he  shall  gather 
his  saints  togethei*,  those  who  have  made  a  cove- 
nant with  him  by  sacrifice,  where  they  "  shall  not 
die  any  more,  for  they  are  the  children  of  God, 
being  the  children  of  the  resurrection." 

And  is  not  this  delightful  truth  confirmed  by  a 
thousand  analogies  of  nature  ?  The  light  of  the  sun 
fades  and  dies,  and  the  children  of  men,  worn  with 
toil,  lose  their  active  existence  in  sleep  and  darkness ; 
again,  the  day  dawns,  the  darkness  is  past,  and  they 
awake  to  newness  of  life.  The  moon  wanes  and 
dies  ;  and  then,  with  the  regularity  of  nature's  great 
chronometer,  its  faded  glory  is  restored.  Look  first 
at  the  vegetable  creation.  Cold  winter  wraps  in  its 
icy  winding-sheet  the  departed  year;  and  forests 
and  fields  and  harvests  all  fade  as  a  leaf,  and  lie 
buried  in  the  tomb.  But  at  the  vernal  breath  of 
the  returning  year,  all  nature  comes  forth  refreshed 
from  the  sleep  of  the  grave,  and  shouts  for  joy. 
And  is  there  no  resurrection  ?  Is  it  so,  that  death 
chills  and  freezes  for  ever  the  current  of  human 
existence  ?  Shall  that  cold  clay  bloom  no  more  ? 
and  that  eye  never  more  beam  with  lustre  ?  and 
no  voice  be  ever  again  heard  from  those  lips  that 
moulder  in  the  tomb  ? 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  229 

"  Shall  life  revisit  dying  worms, 

And  spread  the  joyous  insect's  wing; 
And,  oh  I  shall  man  awake  no  more 
Thy  face  to  see,  thy  name  to  sing  ?  " 

No :  it  is  not  in  vain  that  we  wander  along  the 
shores  of  that  unseen  world.  A  sound  does  reach 
us  from  this  vast  abyss  of  watei-s.  Earth  and  sea 
shall  give  up  their  dead. 

But  lioio  are  the  dead  raised  up  ?  The  men  of 
Grecian  culture  asked  the  question,  "  With  what 
body  do  they  come  ? "  St.  Paul  thought  it  a  foolish 
question ;  and  his  answer  is  substantially  as  fol- 
lows :  ^When  we  look  beneath  us,  around  us,  above 
us,  we  see  material  substances  in  untold  varieties 
and  modifications,  throughout  the  vegetable,  animal, 
and  stellar  creation. 

Look  fii'st  at  the  vegetable  creation.  "That 
which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die  / 
and  that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that 
body  that  shall  be,  but  bare  grain  :  it  may  chance 
of  wheat,  or  some  other  grain.  But  God  giveth 
it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him,  and  to  every  seed 
his  own  body."  If  then  "  the  grain  you  cast  into 
the  earth  cannot  live  and  bring  forth  fruit  unless 
it  die,  is  it  not  absurd  to  say,  the  body  cannot  live 
because  it  dies  ?  You  plant  a  seed,  but  it  does  not 
come  up  a  seed,  but  a  flower.  Why  then  may  not 
the  future  be  to  the  present  body  what  the  flower 
is  to  the  seed  ? "     From  the  vapors  of  the  sea  and 


230  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

the  miasma  of  the  slain  on  the  field  of  battle,  arise 
the  beauty,  the  brilliancy,  the  glory  of  the  west- 
ern sky ;  and  from  the  sand  of  the  ocean's  bed, 
and  the  charcoal  of  the  forest,  come  forth  the  crys- 
tal and  the  diamond.  And  why,  from  this  natural 
and  corruptible  body  which  sleeps  in  the  grave, 
may  there  not  come  forth  a  body  that  is  spiritual 
and  incorruptible  ? 

Turn  yom*  thoughts  then  to  the  animal  world, 
and  you  see  the  same  varied  modifications.  Flesh 
and  blood  appear  in  a  great  variety  of  forms : 
"there  is  one  kind  of  flesh  of  men,  another  flesh 
of  beasts,  another  of  fishes,  and  another  of  birds." 
Mark  the  insects  which  move  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  or  swim  in  the  deep  sea.  They  build 
their  sepulchres,  and  seem  to  be  dead  and  dis- 
solved in  dust.  Yet  these  lifeless  insects  rise  in 
forms  of  beauty,  "dance  in  the  air,  sleep  on 
flowers,  and  feed  on  honey  and  dew."  The  silk- 
worm, at  first  a  speck  of  matter  scarcely  visible  to 
the  naked  eye,  spins  its  own  shroud,  and  enwraps 
itself  in  its  own  silken  robe  and  dies ;  and  then 
bursts  its  prison  and  comes  forth  a  new  creature, 
in  a  gorgeous  dress,  and  to  live  in  a  new  world. 
And  do  not  these  transformations  favor  the  thought 
that  we  may  rise  in  a  body  more  glorious  than  that 
which  was  deposited  in  the  grave  ? 

Look  now  at  the  celestial  bodies.  "  There  are 
celestial   bodies   and   bodies   terrestrial ;   but  the 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  281 

glory  of  the  celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the 
terrestrial  is  another.  There  is  one  glory  of  the 
sun,  and  another  glory  of  the  moon,  and  another 
glory  of  the  stars ;  for  one  star  differeth  from  an- 
other star  in  glory."  We  know  not  the  elements 
of  which  these  heavenly  bodies  are  compounded ; 
but  they  are  material  bodies,  and  more  glorious  mod- 
ifications of  matter  than  the  elements  which  form  the 
seed  you  cast  into  the  ground,  or  the  reptile  that 
crawls  upon  it.  And  if  what  you  sow  is  not  that 
which  you  reap ;  if  the  meanest  worm  is  not  the 
splendid  tenant  of  the  air ;  if  matter  exists  in  unnum- 
bered forms,  from  the  decayed  vegetable  to  the  stars 
and  the  sun  in  the  firmament, — why,  when  the  grave 
receives  a  natural  and  corruptible  body,  may  it  not 
yield  a  body  that  is  spiritual  and  incorruptible  ? 
There  is  a  great  change  from  the  infant  in  its  moth- 
er's womb,  to  the  full  grown  man ;  yet  is  it  the 
same  creature  of  God,  and  has  the  same  conscious 
identity  and  accountableness.  So  there  is  a  great 
change  from  the  corruptible  body  that  is  deposited 
in  the  grave,  to  the  incorruptible  at  the  resurrec- 
tion. "  It  is  sown  in  corruption,"  enfeebled  and  cor- 
rupted by  disease,  subject  to  decay,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  in  part  dissolved  before  the  tide  of  life 
ceases  to  flow  ;  and  destined  to  dissolve  in  rotten- 
ness and  dust.  The  form,  once  so  fair  and  beauti- 
ful, is  shrouded,  in  darkness,  and  hurried  away  from 
the  abodes  of  the  living.     But  "  it  is  raised  in  incor- 


232  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

ruption,"  reproduced  and  reembodied,  never  again 
to  be  invaded  by  infirmity  or  disease,  but  to 
bloom  in  the  regions  of  a  living  immortality.  "  It 
is  sown  in  dishonor ;"  and,  though  once  sparkling 
in  the  cheerful  circles  of  time,  is  now  despoiled  of 
its  attractiveness — its  loveliness  fled,  its  lustre  gone, 
and  a  place  assigned  to  it  where  the  worm  feeds, 
and  from  which  the  eye  turns  away.  But  "  it  is 
raised  in  glory;"  its  ignominy  is  wiped  away  in 
the  grave.  It  rises  in  beauty  and  splendor,  and  is 
fashioned  "  like  unto  Christ's  glorious  body."  "  It 
is  sown  in  weakness."  Nothing  is  more  weak.  It 
is  powerless.  It  is  a  mere  inert,  lifeless  corpse ;  a 
skull,  a  skeleton,  a  mass  of  motionless  dust.  But 
"  it  is  raised  in  power ; "  its  sprightliness  and  activ- 
ity all  restored,  revived  in  more  than  youthful 
vigor,  instinct  with  energy,  endowed  with  faculties 
of  which  we  now  have  no  conception,  "  always  new 
and  ever  young."  It  is  "  sown  a  natural  body ; "  a 
body  of  which  mere  animal  life  is  the  animating 
principle ;  a  body  consisting  of  flesh  and  blood, 
and  sustained  by  air,  food,  and  rest ;  a  mere  animal 
body,  adapted  to  the  condition  of  a  mere  earthly 
existence.  And  "it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body." 
We  know  not  the  nature  of  spiritual  bodies.  We 
can  only  say,  they  are  bodies  of  which  something 
beyond  animal  life  is  the  animating  principle.  It 
is  a  body,  the  animating  principle  of  which  is  the 
soul, — ^the  rational,  immortal  principle  of  our  na- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  233 

ture.  It  is  a  spiritual  body  fitted  for  tlie  residence 
of  the  perfected  spirit,  for  a  spiritual  service,  a  spir- 
itual eternity.  In  form,  in  conscious  identity,  it 
will  be  the  same  body  that  lived  on  the  earth  and 
was  deposited  in  the  grave.  It  is  the  same  body 
that  is  born  that  dies,  and  the  same  that  dies  that 
shall  rise  again.  It  is  no  new  creation ;  it  is  a  res- 
urrection of  the  same  body.  This  corruption  shall 
put  on  incorruption ;  this  mortal,  immortality.  All 
the  examples  of  a  i-esurrection, — the  body  of  Christ, 
and  the  bodies  of  those  who  came  out  of  their 
graves  at  his  resurrection, — confirm  the  conclusion 

THAT  THE  SAME  BODY  EISES    THAT   DIED,       But  whilc 

they  retain  their  essential  identity,  oh!  how  changed  I 
The  chaos  and  darkness  which  inhabited  the  grave 
will  then  be  lighted  up  into  life,  light,  order,  and 
beauty.  It  is  a  privilege  to  live,  a  privilege  to  die, 
thus  to  rise.  There  is  a  no  more  gloomy  and  affect- 
ing spectacle  than  that  which  is  presented  in  the 
mansions  of  the  dead ;  and  none  more  glorious  than 
that  which  will  be  presented  on  the  morning  of  the 
resurrection.  When  the  night  of  death  shall  have 
passed  away,  what  spot  on  the  face  of  this  globe 
will  present  to  enraptured  admiration  a  view  so 
grand  and  beautiful  as  some  densely  populated 
graveyard ! 

You  and  I  shall  be  witnesses  of  that  wondrous 
transformation.  The  pomp  of  worldly  grandeur, 
the  glitter  of  worldly  wealth,  the  refinement  of 


234  BRICK  CHUECH  MEMORIAL. 

worldly  pleasure,  will  soon  have  passed,  and  tlie 
last  of  days  will  dawn.  And,  oh !  what  scenes  of 
grandeur  and  beauty  will  then  be  presented  to  the 
astonished,  the  enraptured  eye !  What  amazing 
scenes,  when,  as  this  earth  revolves  in  its  last  diur- 
nal circuit,  the  knell  of  a  departed  world  shall 
have  been  sounded;  when  "the  living  shall  be 
changed  and  the  dead  shall  be  raised;"  and  all 
that  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  come  forth  !  From  lands  and  seas, 
from  ev^ry  river,  every  cavern,  from  the  sultry 
desert,  from  the  polar  glaciers,  aye,  from  the  am- 
bient atmosphere,  where  the  dust  of  martyrs 
rose  in  fire  and  smoke  and  vapor,  and  was  blown 
abroad  to  the  winds, — all  shall  come  forth,  until 
the  compact  soil  itself,  crowded  with  the  bodies  of 
the  dead,  rises  above  the  rock-ribbed  skeleton  of 
an  expiring  world.  What  an  appalling  spectacle 
to  the  awe-struck  universe,  when  those  celestial 
spirits  who  witnessed  the  primeval  creation,  now 
witness  its  final  consummation !  Then  the  history 
of  mortal  man,  of  time,  will  be  finished ;  death  shall 
be  swallowed  up  in  victory,  and  the  book  closed 
and  sealed  for  ever.  Glorious  truth — "  neither  shall 
they  die  any  more ;  for  they  are  equal  unto  the  an- 
gels, and  are  the  children  of  God,  being  the  chil- 
dren of  the  resurrection  ! " 

After  the  scenes  that  have  recently  taken  place 
in  the  midst  of  us,  and  the  kind  references  to  the 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  285 

beloved  woman  so  recently  taken  from  us,  it  may 
seem  to  some  that  enough  has  been  said  on  this 
mournful  theme.  I  may  be  allowed,  however,  to 
say,  that  I  owe  it  to  this  church,  to  which  she  has 
usefully  sustained  the  delicate  and  responsible  re- 
lation of  the  pastor's  wife ;  I  owe  it  to  her  children, 
to  her  character,  to  my  own  heart,  to  her  God  and 
my  God,  to  avail  myself  of  the  present  opportun- 
ity in  paying  a  brief  tribute  to  the  memory  of  one 
who  has  so  long  been  my  solace  in  the  labors  of 
this  ministry. 

She  was  a  native  of  the  city  of  New  Haven,  in 
the  state  of  Connecticut,  and  was  born  on  the  first 
of  September,  1785.  In  her  person,  she  was  beau- 
tiful to  the  last ;  in  her  youth,  very  few  were  more 
attractive.  She  had  a  fine  intellect,  combining 
clear  conceptions,  strong  reasoning  powers,  a  warm 
heart,  a  lively  and  poetic  imagination,  keen  wit, 
abounding  pleasantry,  and  a  memory  that  rarely 
forgot  any  thing  she  had  read,  heard,  or  seen. 
Her  mind  was  cultivated  by  extensive  reading,  and 
especially  in  the  departments  of  biography  and 
history.  Her  colloquial  powers  were  of  a  rare  or- 
der, and  attractive  to  all  classes.  No  matter  what 
their  station  in  life,  she  had  a  word  in  season  for 
all ;  few,  if  any,  ever  spent  a  leisure  hour  in  her 
society  without  recalling  it  with  pleasure.  In  her 
youth  and  in  her  maturity,  she  was  a  magnet  to 
the  young,  enjoying  their  pleasures,  elevating  their 


236  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

cliaracter,  and  promoting  their  usefulness.     Chil- 
dren loved  and  sought  her  society,  even  in  her  old 


A  prominent  feature  in  her  character  was  her 
cheerfulness.  She  was  rarely  pensive ;  and  when 
she  was  so,  it  was  touching  pensiveness,  and  among 
the  most  affecting  expressions  of  female  loveliness. 
But  it  was  a  rare  occurrence,  even  in  a  life  pro- 
tracted thus  long,  and  so  chequered  with  trials. 
How  often  have  I  wished  that  I  could  look  on  the 
bright  side,  and  with  the  same  sunshine  of  the 
mind  with  which  she  was  favored !  In  this  partic- 
ular she  was  the  charm  of  our  domestic  circle, 
shooting  her  beams  of  pleasantry  like  golden  threads 
through  the  web  of  social  life,  infusing  vivacity 
into  its  toil,  giving  tranquillity  to  its  apprehensions, 
alleviation  to  its  sorrows,  and  brightness  to  its  joys. 
Her  life,  as  I  look  back  upon  it,  though  one  of  in- 
cessant care  and  labor  and  responsibility,  was,  to 
an  unusual  degree,  a  happy  life.  She  enjoyed  it ; 
and  never  more  than  when  others  enjoyed  it  with 
her.  Nor  may  I  suppress  the  thought,  that  the 
cheerfulness  she  threw  around  those  chambers  of 
sickness  where  she  was  so  often  a  sufferer,  and  es- 
pecially her  last  sickness,  was  perfectly  beautiful. 
It  was  a  rich  treat  to  sit  hour  after  hour  by  her 
bedside ;  and  while  we  saw  that  fair  flower  droop 
and  gradually  wither,  we  felt  that  its  fragrance 
was  exhaled  from  every  decaying  leaf.     Something 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  237 

bright,  something  encouraging,  something  charged 
with  the  fulness  of  her  own  hoping,  cheered  heart, 
was  every  now  and  then  playing  upon  her  features, 
or  flowing  from  her  lips. 

She  was  married  on  the  25th  of  May,  1806. 
We  lived  together  four  and  fifty  yeai-s ;  and  our 
attachment,  mutual  and  ardent  in  youth,  was  strong 
and  sweet  to  the  end.  God  was  pleased  to  give  us 
a  large  family,  nine  of  which  remain  and  six  have 
fallen  asleep.  I  had  no  friend  on  earth  on  whom  I 
had  such  reliance ;  no  counsellor  so  wise,  and  no 
such  comforter.  Her  discriminations  of  character 
were  remarkable,  and  rarely  was  she  deceived  in 
them.  Her  good  judgment  and  practical  common 
sense  might  almost  always  be  relied  on.  We  have 
rarely  differed  in  opinion  in  matters  of  any  impor- 
tance; and  when  we  did,  I  generally  found  in 
the  end  that  she  was  right  and  I  was  wrong.  Her 
practical  wisdom  was  felt  also  in  all  those  minor 
domestic  arrangements,  and  those  fitting  adapta- 
tions of  pei'sons  and  things  to  times  and  places, 
which  secure  the  greatest  efficiency  with  the  least 
interference.  Matters  like  these  may  seem  of  triv- 
ial moment  to  those  who  are  born  and  nursed  in 
affluence ;  but  in  a  long  series  of  years  they  are 
serious  matters,  especially  in  a  wife  of  a  minister 
of  the  gospel. 

She  was  eminently  a  self-sacrificing  woman.  She 
had  no  earthly  object  so  dear  to  her  as  her  has- 


238  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

band's  usefulness  and  honor  as  an  ambassador  of 
Christ,  and  the  spiritual  and  temporal  prosperity 
of  her  children.  To  me  she  was  an  affectionate, 
watchful,  self-denying  wife ;  to  them  an  affectionate, 
watchful,  self-sacrificing  mother.  Her  husband  and 
her  children  can  bear  witness  that  she  preferred 
their  interest  and  happiness  to  her  own.  I  could 
state  not  a  few  touching  instances  of  this  self- 
devotement,  were  it  proper  to  do  so.  By  day  and 
by  night,  at  home  and  abroad,  in  sickness  and  in 
health,  in  prosperity  and  in  adversity,  and  in  all  her 
pecuniary  arrangements,  I  have  never  known,  in 
all  my  ministry,  her  own  convenience,  or  comfort, 
or  pleasure  stand  in  the  way  of  my  duty  to  God 
and  this  people.  Would  there  were  more  such 
women,  in  this  strong  and  beautiful  feature  of  her 
character !  An  aged  brother  in  the  ministry,  who 
had  long  known  her,  and  knew  her  well,  very  soon 
after  her  death  wrote  to  me  as  follows :  "  In  your 
sorrow  I  know  you  have  abundant  consolation.  May 
God  multiply  it  even  more  ;  and  to  you  and  your 
children  may  it  bring  forth  its  ripest  fj'uits !  As  a 
minister's  wife,  I  have  long  felt  that  the  departed 
one  was  a  model.  Not  one  rare  excellence,  but 
many,  qualified  her  to  be  the  light  of  your  house, 
and  a  blessing  to  your  people.  You  have  lost 
much.  But  I  know  you  thankfully  remember  that 
you  have  long  enjoyed  the  precious  gift,  and  that 
you  appreciate  the  privilege  of  having  had  so  much 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  239 

to  lose."  A  lady  of  our  own  church,  a  long-tried 
friend,  very  kindly  sent  me  the  following  testimo- 
nial: "The  impressions  Mrs.  Spring  made  upon 
me  in  my  interviews  with  her  were  of  the  pleas- 
antest  character.  They  were  that  she  possessed 
rare  and  social  qualities ;  a  strong  and  cultivated 
mind ;  was  an  intelligent,  well-informed,  and  mature 
Christian, — devoted  to  you  and  to  the  interests  of 
the  church  of  which  God  had  made  5'ou  ovei-seer. 
Few,  if  any,  interested  me  more  than  your  departed 
wife ;  and  I  always  esteemed  it  a  privilege  to  be 
admitted  to  her  society." 

Of  her  religious  character  I  can  speak  with  thank- 
fulness. We  were  neither  of  us  the  professed  follow- 
ers of  Christ  at  the  time  of  our  marriage.  The  third 
day  after  our  union,  when  on  a  tour  to  visit  my 
parents,  and  the  wedding-party  which  had  accom- 
panied us  from  New  Haven  to  Hartford  had  sep- 
arated from  us,  and  we  had  retired  to  our  chamber, 
we  kneeled  together  for  the  first  time  in  prayer. 
I  never  shall  forget  the  hour,  nor  the  place.  It  was 
in  a  comfortable  hotel,  and  in  the  quiet  village  of 
Longmeadow,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  And 
need  I  say,  that  from  that  hour  we  felt  bound  to- 
gether by  new  bonds  of  affection  and  confidence. 
It  was  the  commencement  of  our  family  worship, 
and  was  continued  and  daily  renewed  to  the  eve- 
ning before  her  death.  She  did  not  make  a  public 
profession  of  her  faith  in  Christ  until  seven  years 


240  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

after  her  marriage,  and  three  years  after  slie  came 
to  New  York.  But  slie  did  it  intelligently,  and 
with  clear  views  of  God's  truth  and  her  own  duty. 
Christ  was  her  refuge.  She  came  to  him  humbly, 
but  cheerfully ;  with  nothing  but  her  sins  for  him 
to  forgive,  and  nothing  but  her  wants  for  him  to 
supply.  Her  religion  was  made  up  of  strong  prin- 
ciples ;  devote ment  to  duty ;  implicit  confidence  in 
the  Deity,  the  atoning  sacrifice,  and  justifying  right- 
eousness of  the  Son  of  God;  a  stern  attachment 
to  truth  and  rigbt ;  modest,  but  sometimes  sarcastic 
rebukes  of  wickedness ;  and  a  life  of  unostentatious 
and  joyous  consecration  to  higher  interests  than 
her  own.  There  was  no  severity,  no-  gloom  thrown 
around  the  truths,  the  privileges,  the  obligations 
of  the  gospel  where  her  influence  was  felt.  Yet 
there  was  no  lightness,  and  no  reluctance  to  urge 
its  claims.  In  those  outpourings  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  upon  this  people  which  form  the  brightest 
pages  of  our  history,  she  was  greatly  useful  among 
her  young  female  friends.  So  accessible  was  she, 
that  they  often  resorted  to  her;  nor  are  there 
wanting,  among  the  living  and  the  dead,  those  who 
are  witnesses  of  her  sympathy  and  judicious  coun- 
sels. She  was  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers, 
especially  during  the  earlier  part  of  her  history ; 
and,  if  I  mistake  not,  she  will  be  long  remembered 
by  those  ministers  of  the  gospel  who  enjoyed  her 
hospitality.     In  her  attachment  to  the  Shorter  Gate- 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  241 

chism  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  and  in  her 
painstaking  efforts  to  imbue  the  minds  of  her 
children  with  its  truths,  she  was  a  true  Puritan 
mother.  She  was  a  lover  of  the  Bible.  She  had 
great  reverence  for  it,  and  read  it  much ;  and,  though 
the  best  of  commentaries  were  within  her  reach, 
she  preferred  to  read  it  without  note  or  comment, — 
comparing  scripture  with  scripture.  The  Bible 
was  her  standai-d.  "  How  readest  thou  ? "  was  a 
question  not  only  familiar  to  her  own  mind,  but  one 
with  which  she  often  troubled  self-conceited  con- 
troversialists. She  had  no  desire  to  be  "  wise  above 
what  is  written ; "  and  would  often  say  of  certain 
new  systems,  and  certain  classes  of  men  and  xnomen^ 
"  They  do  err,  not  knowing  the  scriptures,  nor  the 
power  of  God." 

Those  who  knew  her  only  during  the  last  few 
years  of  her  life,  did  not  hnow  lier.  For  two  years 
before  her  death  she  was  a  sufferer ;  not  so  much 
th rough ^pain  as  increasing  debility.  Yet  these  two 
yeai-s  were  years  not  of  morbid  melancholy,  but  of 
undiminished  cheerfulness.  The  last  few  months  of 
her  life  forbade  all  hope  of  her  recovery.  She  saw 
her  end  approaching,  and  awaited  it  with  submis- 
sion and  hope,expressing  only  the  wi^h  that  she  might 
be  spared  until  the  approaching  fiftieth  annivei-sary 
of  my  ordination.  And  she  did  live  ei(/ht  and  forty 
hours  after  that  memorable  and  painful  Sabbath. 
She  had  learned  to  bow  her  will  to  the  will  of  God. 
16 


242  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

The  most  painful  thought  I  heard  from  her  lips 
was,  "  Oh  !  /  am  a  crushed  icorm  !  "  As  I  one  day- 
held  her  in  my  arms,  she  remarked,  "It  is  very- 
pleasant  for  me  to  feel  that  I  lie  here  in  the  hands 
of  God."  Then,  after  a  moment's  pause,  she  added, 
"  I  know  of  no  thought  more  sweet,  unless  it  be 
some  bright  views  of  the  way  of  salvation  by  Jesus 
Christ."  I  asked  her  if  the  truths  of  the  gospel 
appeared  as  realities  to  her  own  mind.  She  replied, 
"  Of  course  they  doP  I  asked  her  again  if  she  took 
hold  of  them  as  strong  truths,  and  if  she  rested 
her  eternity  upon  them.  Again  she  answered,  in 
her  own  pithy  language,  '■''Of  course  I doT  It  was 
the  custom  of  our  dispersed  children  to  meet  in 
their  mother's  chamber  every  Saturday  evening. 
About  a  fortnight  before  her  death,  and  while  she 
lay  so  enfeebled  that  we  did  not  know  she  would 
notice  the  reading,  I  read  to  them  the  discourse 
lately  delivered  to  you,  entitled  "Redemption 
God's  greatest  work. "  We  did  not  know  that  she 
heard  a  word  of  it ;  but,  at  the  close,  she  audibly 
exclaimed,  "Glorious  Redemption!  glorious  Re- 
demption ! " 

She  was  fond  of  music ;  she  read  its  language 
easily,  and  her  sweet  voice  in  sacred  song  gave 
sweetness  to  our  daily  worship.  We  all  sang  with 
her;  and  when  she  could  no  longer  unite  with  us, 
she  would  select  the  hymns  for  us  to  sing.  Very 
often  the  stanzas  were  from  the  hymn — 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  248 

"Fm  a  pilgrim  and  Tm  a  stranger ; 

I  can  tarry  but  a  night : 
Do  not  detain  me,  for  I  am  going 
To  where  the  fountains  are  ever  flowing, 

And  my  Redeemer  is  the  light." 

On  another  occasion  it  was — 

"  Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul ! 
Let  me  to  thy  bosom  fly," 

in  the  beautiful  but  neglected  tune  of  Ilotham. 
On  other  occasions  it  was — 

"Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea, 
But  that  thy  blood  was  shed  for  me, 
And  that  thou  bid'st  me  come  to  thee, 
0  Lamb  of  God,  I  come,  I  come  1 " 

Our  evening  worship  was  always  in  her  chamber ; 
and  on  the  evening  of  the  Lord's  Day  she  almost 
uniformly  selected  that  beautiful  hymn  of  Watts, 

"  Father,  I  long,  I  faint  to  see 
The  place  of  thine  abode ; 
I'd  leave  thine  earthly  courts,  and  flee 
Up  to  thy  seat,  my  God !  " 

Ten  days  before  her  departure,  her  debility  was 
extreme ;  and  we  never  retired  for  the  night  with- 
out the  apprehension  of  being  called  to  her  bedside 
before  morning,  to  see  her  die.  On  the  evening  of 
the  last  Lord's  Day  but  one  before  she  died,  we 
were  singing  the  hymn, 

"My  God,  the  spring  of  all  ray  joys, 
The  life  of  my  delights, 
The  glory  of  my  brightest  days. 
And  comfort  of  my  nights," 


244r  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

when,  wonderful  to  us  all,  as  we  were  rehearsing 
the  words, 

"  The  opening  heavens  around  me  shine 
With  beams  of  brightest  bliss  ; 
While  Jesus  shows  his  heart  is  mine, 
And  whispers,  I  am  Tiis^'' — 

we  heard  her  feeble  voice  uniting  with  us.  Little 
did  we  expect  ever  to  hear  that  voice  of  praise 
again  this  side  of  heaven ;  but,  as  we  came  to  the 
words, 

"  My  soul  would  leave  this  heavy  clay 
At  that  transporting  word," 

that  loving  voice  which  had  so  often  charmed  us 
broke  forth  in  heaven-imparted  energy,  and  she 
sang — 

"  Fearless  of  hell  and  ghastly  death, 
I'd  break  through  every  foe ; 
The  wings  of  love  and  arras  of  faith 
Shall  bear  me  conqueror  through." 

They  were  her  last  words  ;  it  was  our  last  song  on 
the  earth. 

This  was  on  Sabbath  evening.  On  the  follow- 
ing morning  there  was  a  partial  paralysis  of  her 
right  side ;  very  obviously  her  life  on  the  earth 
was  drawing  to  its  close.  She  could  not  speak  dis- 
^tinctly  after  this.  Her  mind  was  still  clear,  but 
she  could  converse  with  us  only  by  the  expression 
of  her  countenance  and  the  pressure  of  her  hand. 
We  were  exceedingly  anxious   that   God  would 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  Si46 

gi*ant  her  tlie  power  of  speech  to  the  last ;  but  in 
this  our  prayer  was  denied.  Yet  she  did  not  leave 
us  without  some  delightful  witness  of  her  faith, 
and  hope,  and  joy.  It  was  a  week  of  trial,  such 
as  I  hope  never  to  see  again.  Yet  was  it  a  most 
delightful  week  to  her  and  to  us  all :  so  full  of 
sweetness,  that  it  seemed  to  me  it  was  given  to  U8 
as  the  sweetest  alleviation  of  our  griefs — to  her 
as  an  earnest  of  her  heavenly  rest.  She  knew  us 
all  until  about  two  days  before  she  died ;  during 
which  she  was  unconscious.  Yet  was  it  a  great 
comfort  to  us  to  sit  by  her,  and  look  on  that  calm 
and  heavenly  face.  On  the  morning  of  the  7th  of 
August,  at  half  pa'^t  eight  o'clock,  she  was  released 
from  debility  and  suffering,  and  entered  her  Fa- 
ther's house.  She  died  in  the  presence  of  her 
husband  and  her  eight  children,  and  her  attached 
nurse  and  servants,  all  of  whom  ministered  to  her 
with  constant  and  unwearied  care,  and  great  love 
and  tenderness.  She  was  buried  in  a  vault  beneath 
the  tower  of  this  church,  where  she  herself  had 
once  intimated  that  it  would  be  a  pleasant  resting- 
place,  by  the  side  of  her  husband,  until  the  resur- 
rection. 

I  bless  God  for  a  helper  so  meet  and  fitted  to 
my  character  and  toils  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 
I  bless  him  that  he  gave  her  to  me,  and  that  I  had 
her  so  long.  I  bless  him  that  I  had  so  much  joy 
in  my  attentions  to  her  during  her  prolonged  ill- 


246  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

ness,  and  so  many  tokens  of  her  love.  And,  al- 
though these  pages  are  not  written  without  tears, 
I  bless  him  that  her  course  is  finished,  and  that  her 
aching  head  is  at  rest.  I  bless  him  that,  through 
him  who  loved  us  both,  she  has  gained  the  victory 
and  wears  the  crown,  and  that  at  the  resurrection 
of  the  just  I  shall  see  and  recognize  that  dear  form 
again.  I  watched  her  last  breath,  and  could  not 
but  congratulate  her  that  the  former  things  are 
passed  away.  Oh,  fairest  flower !  bleak  winter 
has  but  embosomed  thee  in  his  snow-soft  arms,  to 
bloom  afresh  in  the  Paradise  above.  Never  did  I 
appreciate  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
until  I  deposited  beneath  yonder  tower  the  mortal 
remains  of  the  woman  I  so  much  loved.  There  they 
sleep ;  that  church-going  bell  telling  of  her  depar- 
ture, that  lofty  spire  her  monument.  There  she 
sleeps,  but  only  "till  the  heavens  be  no  more." 
Believe  me,  there  are  joys  in  the  assured  anticipa- 
tion that  "  all  that  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear 
his  voice  and  come  forth,"  which  none  but  mourn- 
ers know.  I  marvel  not  that  the  New  Testament 
magnifies  it ;  nor  that  the  harp  of  ancient  seers 
should  strike  the  note,  "Awake  and  sing,  ye  that 
dwell  in  dust !  for  thy  dew  is  as  the  dew  of  herbs, 
and  the  earth  shall  cast  out  her  dead." 

There  is  a  touching  incident  in  the  divine  record, 
in  regard  to  the  "father  of  the  faithful,"  which  has 
emboldened  me,  on  the  present  occasion,  to  throw 


BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL.  247 

myself  on  your  indulgence.  It  is  in  the  following 
words :  "  And  Sarah  died  in  Kirjath-arba ;  the 
same  is  Hebron,  in  the  land  of  Canaan ;  and  Abra- 
ham came  to  mourn  for  Sarah,  and  to  weep  for 
her."  I  may  be  allowed,  my  beloved  people,  to 
solicit  an  interest  in  your  prayers  for  a  sanctified 
improvement  of  a  like  affliction  to  my  own  soul,  to 
our  dear  children,  and  to  this  congregation.  I  ask 
them  for  myself,  that  my  grief  may  be  neither  dis- 
content, nor  despondency,  nor  defiance,  nor  despair ; 
but  tranquil  submission  and  humble  self-abasement 
under  God's  chastising  hand.  I  think  of  coming 
solitude  and  sorrows,  and  feel  that  I  need  her  to 
encourage  and  comfort  me.  I  think  of  surround- 
ing mercies,  and  the  increasing  tokens  of  your 
favor,  and  say,  What  are  they  all  without  her  f  I 
can  not  look  to  earth ;  clouds  darken  on  my  path- 
way now. 

Ere  long,  they  will  obscure  your  pathway  as 
well  as  mine.  These  earthly  ties  must  all  be  sun- 
dered. What  you  need  is  a  well-grounded  hope 
of  a  holy  and  blissful  immortality ;  that,  when  the 
day  of  adversity  comes,  you  "  sorrow  not  as  those 
who  have  no  hope  ; "  and,  when  death  approaches 
and  the  grave  covers  you,  you  and  those  who  love 
you  may  have  the  joy  that  you  sleep  in  Jesus. 
Life  is  a  blessing  so  long  as  we  live  to  life's  great 
end.  It  is  worthless  but  for  this  ;  it  is  the  happiest 
life  even  amid  life's  bitter  sorrows.     Death  too  is 


248  BRICK  CHURCH  MEMORIAL. 

a  blessing  when  our  work  is  done  :  it  delivers  from 
sins,  and  conflicts,  and  sorrows,  and  terminates  in 
joys  known  only  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect.  We  die,  and  sleep  in  the  dust ;  but  over 
those  who  thus  sleep  intervening  ages  will  pass 
rapidly  away.  There  is  no  dial-plate  there  on 
which  to  count  the  hours  of  time.  The  busy 
world  of  life,  which  wakes  at  each  morning  and 
ceases  every  night,  goes  on  above  them ;  but  to 
them  all  is  silent  and  unseen.  The  greetings  of 
joy  and  the  voice  of  grief,  the  revolution  of  em- 
pires and  the  lapse  of  ages,  send  no  sound  within 
that  narrow  cell.  The  inscription  upon  their  mon- 
umental marble  tells  the  centuries  that  have  passed 
away  ;  but  to  the  sleeping  dead  the  long  interval 
is  unobserved.  Everlasting  thanks  to  the  God  and 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  but  a  shoi't 
winter's  day  between  the  period  when  the  eye  is 
closed  in  the  grave  and  when  it  wakes  at  the  res- 
urrection. "Behold,  he  cometh  in  clouds,  and 
every  eye  shall  see  him !  "  You  will  awake  and  be 
there,  my  hearers,  and  so  shall  I.  And  so  will  the 
loved  ones  we  have  buried  out  of  our  sight.  God 
grant  that  there  may  be  no  painful  separations  on 
that  Great  and  Last  Day.  If  we  part  then,  we 
part  to  meet  no  more — parted  for  ever,  or  for  ever 
united  to  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the 
First  Born  which  are  written  in  heaven. 


